France Issues Third Arrest Warrant Against Syria's Ex-Leader Bashar Assad
French magistrates have issued a new arrest warrant against ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad over deadly chemical attacks in 2013, marking the third such warrant against him.
PARIS: French magistrates this summer issued a new arrest warrant against ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad over deadly chemical attacks in 2013, a judicial source said on Thursday.
This marks France's third separate arrest warrant against the former dictator exiled in Russia, who ruled Syria from 2000 until he was toppled last year after more than 14 years of devastating civil war.
French investigators have since 2021 been looking into suspected Syrian government chemical attacks on Adra and Douma outside Damascus on August 4-5, 2013, and in Eastern Ghouta on August 21.
Around 450 people were hurt in the first attack, while American intelligence suggests over 1,000 were killed with sarin nerve gas in East Ghouta, a suburb of Syrian capital Damascus.
Magistrates had previously issued an arrest warrant in the chemical attacks case in 2023 when Assad was still president, but France's highest court annulled it in July on grounds that it was issued while his presidential immunity still applied.
This new warrant accuses him of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes in the chemical attack case.
Also included in this case is a warrant for Talal Makhlouf, the former commander of the Syrian Republican Guard’s 105th Brigade.
Assad and his family fled to Russia after Islamist-led fighters seized power on December 8, according to Russian authorities.
Two additional French warrants are already outstanding for Assad's arrest, one for suspected complicity in war crimes related to a bombing in Daraa in 2017 and another over the bombardment of a press center in 2012 that killed two journalists.
The Syrian civil war, which began with Assad’s repression of anti-government protests in 2011, has resulted in over half a million deaths.
Ahead of Syria's new president visiting Russia last week to discuss matters including the fate of ousted leaders, no public mention was made of extraditing Assad, who continues to reside in Moscow under Russian protection.
This marks France's third separate arrest warrant against the former dictator exiled in Russia, who ruled Syria from 2000 until he was toppled last year after more than 14 years of devastating civil war.
French investigators have since 2021 been looking into suspected Syrian government chemical attacks on Adra and Douma outside Damascus on August 4-5, 2013, and in Eastern Ghouta on August 21.
Around 450 people were hurt in the first attack, while American intelligence suggests over 1,000 were killed with sarin nerve gas in East Ghouta, a suburb of Syrian capital Damascus.
Magistrates had previously issued an arrest warrant in the chemical attacks case in 2023 when Assad was still president, but France's highest court annulled it in July on grounds that it was issued while his presidential immunity still applied.
This new warrant accuses him of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes in the chemical attack case.
Also included in this case is a warrant for Talal Makhlouf, the former commander of the Syrian Republican Guard’s 105th Brigade.
Assad and his family fled to Russia after Islamist-led fighters seized power on December 8, according to Russian authorities.
Two additional French warrants are already outstanding for Assad's arrest, one for suspected complicity in war crimes related to a bombing in Daraa in 2017 and another over the bombardment of a press center in 2012 that killed two journalists.
The Syrian civil war, which began with Assad’s repression of anti-government protests in 2011, has resulted in over half a million deaths.
Ahead of Syria's new president visiting Russia last week to discuss matters including the fate of ousted leaders, no public mention was made of extraditing Assad, who continues to reside in Moscow under Russian protection.
