Bashar al-Assad in France's crosshairs: “He must be punished”

paris- Alsharq Tribune- Said Ahmed

The French justice system has established the former Syrian president's complicity in a bombing raid on the city of Deraa in 2017. Bashar al-Assad is the target of a new arrest warrant (the second) issued by France for complicity in war crimes. Clémence Bectarte, lawyer for the civil parties, confirmed the information to Franceinfo on Tuesday January 21. 

As part of this judicial information, which was opened in 2018, six high-ranking Syrian army officials are also targeted by arrest warrants for complicity in war crimes. The deposed Syrian leader is the one who provided the means for the top military brass to carry out the attack. 

As Franceinfo reports, the warrant was issued following investigations establishing that Salah Abou Nabout, a 59-year-old French-Syrian national and former French teacher, died on June 7, 2017 following the bombing of his home in Deraa. The victim's son, Abou Nabout, stressed in a statement that the case represented “the culmination of a long fight for justice, which I and my family have believed in from the outset”, hoping that “a trial will take place and that the perpetrators will be arrested and tried, wherever they may be”.

The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, reacted on X (formerly Twitter): “France is and will remain mobilized to ensure that justice is done for the Syrians”.