Paris (TDI): French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six senior former officials in connection with the 2012 bombardment of the city of Homs that killed two foreign journalists, lawyers announced on Tuesday.
The case relates to the deaths of Marie Colvin, a 56-year-old American reporter for The Sunday Times of Britain, and Rémi Ochlik, a 28-year-old French photojournalist, who were killed on February 22, 2012, when a makeshift press center in rebel-held Homs was shelled, according to AFP.
The French judiciary is treating the attack as a possible crime against humanity as well as a war crime.
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Several others were injured in the same strike, including British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar.
Assad, who was ousted by Islamist rebels in late 2024, fled with his family to Russia, though his current whereabouts remain unclear.
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Alongside Assad, the warrants target his brother Maher al-Assad, then commander of the Syrian army’s elite 4th Armoured Division; former intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk; and ex-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub, among others.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
