Warrant for Assad upheld

A French appeals court on Wednesday upheld an arrest warrant issued for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the alleged use of banned chemical weapons against civilians that killed more than 1,000 people over a decade ago.

The warrant approved by French judges in November 2023 refers to charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes. It followed a French investigation into chemical attacks in Douma and the district of Eastern Ghouta in August 2013.

The Syrian government denied the use chemical weapons against its opponents in the civil war, which broke out in March 2011.