The International Criminal Court is also exploring how to ensure accountability for crimes committed under the deposed leader’s 24-year Syrian regime.

Judicial authorities in France have issued a new arrest warrant for Syria’s ousted leader Bashar Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes stemming from an attack on civilians in 2017, French media reported Wednesday.

The Jan. 20 warrant links Assad, who also served as the head of Syria’s armed forces, to a bombing in civilian-populated Deraa in that year that killed Salah Abou Nabout, a 59-year-old Franco-Syrian national, a legal source told AFP.

An investigation into the case was opened in 2018, at which time judges issued arrest warrants for six high-ranking Syrian army officials who they believed had been following Assad’s orders.

“This case represents the culmination of a long fight for justice, in which my family and I believed from the beginning,” said Omar Abou Nabout, the victim’s son, adding that he hopes “a trial will take place and that the perpetrators will be arrested and judged, wherever they are.”

Assad was protected by immunity from prosecution in his post as president until December, when his 24-year dictatorship ended as opposition forces seized Damascus and forced him to flee to Russia.

It’s the second such move by France, which previously issued an arrest warrant for Assad in November 2023 over chemical attacks that killed over a thousand civilians in 2013. Assad’s regime later denied responsibility for the atrocities.

Prosecutors last year appealed the first arrest warrant, citing Assad’s then-presidential immunity.

The latest warrant was issued a few days after prosecutor Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court met with Syria’s new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, for talks on how to ensure accountability for the crimes committed under Assad’s regime.

Politico

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