PARIS: French prosecutors announced on Monday they have requested a new arrest warrant for Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad in connection with a deadly 2013 chemical attack, following the cancellation of a previous warrant.
The decision now rests with investigating magistrates on whether to issue the new warrant.
French authorities have been investigating a suspected sarin gas attack by the Syrian government since 2021.
US intelligence reports indicate the attack killed over 1,000 people in Adra and Douma, near Damascus, on August 4–5, 2013.
France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, ruled last Friday that presidential immunity applies even in cases of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, leading to the annulment of a 2023 arrest warrant against Assad.
However, the court noted that since Assad was ousted in December, new warrants could be pursued.
The National Anti-Terror Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) stated they requested “the issuing and international dissemination of an arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes” related to the chemical attack.
Assad and his family reportedly fled to Russia after Islamist-led forces took control in Syria on December 8.
A separate French arrest warrant was issued in January for Assad’s alleged involvement in a 2017 bombing in Deraa that killed a French-Syrian civilian. – AFP
