France Issues Arrest Warrants for Assad and Top Syrian Officials Over 2012 Journalist Killings

France Issues Arrest Warrants for Assad and Top Syrian Officials Over 2012 Journalist Killings
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A French court has issued arrest warrants for seven former senior Syrian officials, including ex-President Bashar al-Assad, over the 2012 bombing of a press centre in Homs that killed two journalists, Al Jazeera reported. The attack on February 22, 2012, targeted an informal media centre in the Bab Amr district, resulting in the deaths of American war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik. Several others, including journalists and a translator, were injured.

The warrants also name Assad’s brother, Maher al-Assad, then head of the Syrian army’s 4th Armoured Division, as well as former intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk and ex-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub. The French legal system allows prosecution of crimes against humanity committed abroad.

According to the Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression, French investigators concluded the strike was a deliberate attack aimed at silencing foreign media coverage of government actions during the Syrian civil war. The journalists had reportedly entered Homs covertly to document alleged atrocities by the Assad regime.

Human rights groups, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), welcomed the court’s decision as a key step toward accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.