Rumors of France issuing arrest warrant for Syrian President

AFP on November 15 quoted a judicial source as saying that President al-Assad is also suspected of complicity in war crimes in an attack that the opposition blames on his government, killing more than 1,400 people near the Syrian capital Damascus in August 2013.

An international arrest warrant has also been issued for Mr Maher, Mr al-Assad's brother and de facto leader of an elite military unit in Syria, and two generals in the country's armed forces, AFP reported.

The French and Syrian governments did not immediately comment.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

The court's crimes against humanity unit in Paris has been investigating chemical attacks in Syria since 2021.

France claims worldwide jurisdiction over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The investigation comes after a joint lawsuit was filed by the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), an NGO, the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), a lawyers' association, and the Syrian Archive, an organization that monitors human rights violations in Syria.

"This is a serious development," SCM Chairman Mazen Darwish said of the arrest warrant for Mr. al-Assad.

Mr Darwish said the case against Mr al-Assad and others was supported by eyewitness accounts and in-depth analysis of the Syrian military's command and control system.

In 2013, activists posted several videos on YouTube that they said showed the impact of the attack, including footage of dozens of bodies, including children, lying on the ground. The images sparked global outrage.

A later United Nations report said there was clear evidence of the use of sarin gas.

Also in 2013, Syria agreed to join the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and give up all of its chemical weapons. The OPCW later blamed Damascus for a series of chemical attacks during the country's civil war. The Syrian government has denied the accusations.

Civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, killing more than half a million people and leaving half of the country's pre-war population homeless.

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