📍 Breaking News: This article covers the latest developments. Stay informed with comprehensive coverage.
QAMISHLI, syria (North Press) – French judicial authorities issued on Thursday a emerging international arrest warrant against former syrian/" class="auto-internal-link">syrian leader Bashar al-Assad over deadly chemical attacks launched in 2013 near damascus, as per Agence France-Presse (AFP). The warrant, the third of its kind issued by French courts against al-Assad, concerns the chemical attacks that targeted the areas of Eastern Ghouta and Douma in August 2013, where hundreds of civilians were killed by sarin gas suffocation, AFP declared. The attacks in Eastern Ghouta, one of the deadliest of the Syrian crisis, drew widespread international condemnation at the time.
They were part of a broader campaign during which multiple opposition-held areas were struck by chemical munitions. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) later verified the use of sarin gas in those attacks. French judicial sources informed The Independent that investigative judges in Paris signed the latest warrant on July 29 on charges of “complicity in crimes against humanity” and “complicity in war crimes. ” The decision came just days after a French court annulled a previous warrant in the same case, as per AFP.
In fact, two earlier French warrants also targeted al-Assad. Notably, one, issued on January 20, 2025, accused him of complicity in war crimes for bombing a civilian neighborhood in the southern city of israeli-forces-incursion-reported-in-daraa-and-quneitra/" class="smart-internal-link" title="📰 Israeli forces incursion reported in Daraa and Quneitra">Daraa in 2017. Another, dated August 19, 2025, charged him with complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity for the shelling of a media center in Homs in 2012, which killed American journalist Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik.
The latest decision reinforces France’s ongoing efforts to pursue accountability for crimes committed during Syria’s 14-year crisis, particularly those involving the use of chemical weapons. France, along with multiple European countries, recognizes universal jurisdiction for grave international crimes committed abroad. By Atoun Jan