Arrest warrant against Assad

According to the French press, an arrest warrant has been issued for Syrian leader Bashar Assad in connection with the chemical attack in the Eastern Ghouta region of Syria in 2013, which left 1,400 civilians dead.

The court accused Assad of “being complicit in crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Eastern Ghouta chemical attacks” in 2013.

Among those for whom the court issued an arrest warrant, in addition to Assad, were also his brother, the commander of the Fourth Division of the Syrian army, Mahir Assad, and two generals of the armed forces.

The Paris court opened its investigation into the 2013 chemical attacks in 2021.

The legal investigation was opened following a complaint from the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), which is made up of lawyers, and the Syrian Archive, which records violations of human rights in Syria.

WHAT HAPPENED IN EASTERN GHOTA

The Syrian administration killed more than 1,400 civilians through the use of chemical weapons in the Eastern Ghouta region of the capital Damascus on August 21, 2013. Thousands of civilians were also affected by poisonous gases during the massacre.

In 2018, Eastern Ghouta became the region where the Syrian administration imposed the strictest blockade and used almost all weapons.

The opposition in the region had to evacuate Eastern Ghouta in April 2018 as a result of the mandatory agreement they signed with the Damascus administration and Russia.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights report, the Damascus administration carried out 217 chemical weapons attacks on opposition-controlled settlements after the start of the civil war in Syria. (AA)