France Issues Arrest Warrant for Bashar al-Assad on Charges of 'Crimes Against Humanity' and 'War Crimes'

French judges have issued an arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria. According to Reuters, a judicial source said on Wednesday that, in addition to Bashar al-Assad, arrest warrants have also been issued for his brother Maher al-Assad and two senior Syrian officials over the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons against civilians. These warrants were issued following criminal investigations into the chemical attacks in August 2013 in the city of Douma and the Eastern Ghouta region, which left over a thousand dead. The warrants refer to participation in crimes against humanity and involvement in war crimes. This is the first international arrest warrant issued for the head of the Syrian government. Bashar al-Assad's forces responded violently to protests that began in Syria in 2011. United Nations experts have deemed the suppression of protesters in Syria as war crimes. Syria has denied the use of chemical weapons, but previous joint investigations by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons showed that the Syrian government, led by Bashar al-Assad, used sarin nerve gas in April 2017 and has repeatedly used chlorine as a weapon. Mazen Darwish, a lawyer and founder of the 'Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression,' which filed this case in France, stated that the warrants issued in France are also the first international arrest warrants regarding the chemical attack in Ghouta. The U.S. State Department emphasized in August 2023, on the tenth anniversary of the Assad regime's chemical attack in Ghouta, that the U.S. continues to seek 'justice and accountability for those responsible for these horrific acts.' In a statement, the State Department noted that the Syrian government, despite its international obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2118, has not fully declared its chemical weapons program and has not dismantled it in a verifiable manner. The U.S. claims that Syria refuses to accept any responsibility 'for its grotesque campaign of chemical weapons use.' Additionally, Iran and Russia have been supporters of Bashar al-Assad during the civil war and throughout Assad's use of chemical weapons to suppress his opponents. Syria denies the use of chemical weapons, and Russia claims that Assad's opponents have used chemical weapons.