French magistrates issued a new arrest warrant this summer against ousted Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad over the deadly chemical attacks that hit rebel-held areas near Damascus in 2013, according to France 24.
Three Arrest Warrants
A judicial source said on Thursday that with this warrant, France has now issued three separate arrest warrants against Al-Assad, the former Syrian president currently exiled in Russia. He ruled Syria from 2000 until his overthrow in December 2024 after over 14 years of brutal civil war that tore Syria apart.
France issued the first warrant in January, accusing Assad of complicity in war crimes linked to a 2017 airstrike on the southern city of Daraa, which killed a French-Syrian national.
It issued another one in August over the 2012 bombardment of a media center in the then–rebel-held city that killed two journalists.
Investigating Chemical Attacks
In 2021, French investigators began a probe into suspected chemical attacks launched by the previous Syrian government in the towns of Adra and Douma, near Damascus, on August 4–5, 2013, as well as in Eastern Ghouta on August 21.
The first attack wounded approximately 450 people, while American intelligence announced that more than 1,000 were killed with sarin nerve gas in East Ghouta.
As a result, magistrates had issued an arrest warrant in the chemical attacks case in 2023, while Assad was still in power. However, the country’s highest court dismissed it in July, stating that France has issued the warrant while Assad still had his presidential immunity.
New Warrant
This means that the new arrest warrant replaces the previous one since the new government in Damascus has seized power on December 8.
The current warrant accuses Assad of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes in the chemical attack case.
The source added that this case also featured another warrant against Talal Makhlouf, the former commander of the Syrian Republican Guard’s 105th Brigade.
Fall of Assad
After the fall of his government, Assad and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities.
Russia confirmed that the ousted Syrian leader was still alive in Moscow.
A Syrian government official said that the current leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to hand over Assad, during Al-Sharaa’s visit to Moscow last week.
Yet after the meeting, both Al-Sharaa and Putin did not make any public mention of extraditing Assad, with Moscow claiming that it protects him on “humanitarian grounds.”
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