French prosecutors seek new al-Assad arrest warrant

(AFP): French prosecutors said Monday they have requested a new arrest warrant against Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad over a deadly 2013 chemical attacks after a previous one was cancelled.

It is now up to investigating magistrates to decide whether to issue the new warrant.

French investigators have since 2021 been looking into a suspected Syrian government sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4-5, 2013, in the areas of Adra and Douma outside Damascus.

The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court, on Friday ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, annulling a French warrant against al-Assad issued in 2023 when he was still leader.

It however added that, as al-Assad, who was toppled in December, was no longer president, new warrants could be issued and the French investigation could continue.

The National Anti-Terror Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said they on Friday 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” in the chemical attack case.

Al-Assad and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after anti-government forces seized power on December 8.

Another French warrant is already out for al-Assad’s arrest, issued in January for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian.