France Issues Third Arrest Warrant Against Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

ARK News.. A French judicial source reported on Thursday that the French judiciary has issued a third arrest warrant for former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accusing him of involvement in chemical attacks carried out in 2013.

According to the French Press Agency (AFP), this new warrant adds to two previous arrest warrants already issued by French courts against Assad.

Judges in Paris signed the latest warrant on July 29, charging Assad with complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes, just days after the French judiciary annulled the first warrant related to the same case.

On the same day, the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT)—responsible for cases involving crimes against humanity—requested the issuance of a new warrant.

The Court of Cassation, France’s highest judicial authority, had earlier canceled the initial warrant on July 25, 2025, citing the absolute immunity granted to sitting heads of state, as Assad was still in power when the first warrant was issued in November 2023.

However, the court clarified that new warrants could be issued since Assad was ousted from office on December 8, 2024.

The chemical attacks attributed to the Syrian regime occurred on August 5, 2013, in Adra and Douma, injuring around 450 people, and again on August 21, 2013, in Eastern Ghouta, killing more than 1,000 civilians with sarin gas, according to U.S. intelligence reports.

French courts have previously issued two other warrants targeting Assad:

• One on January 20, 2025, accusing him of complicity in war crimes related to the 2017 bombing of a civilian neighborhood in Daraa.
• Another on August 19, 2025, for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, concerning the 2012 shelling of a media center in Homs, which killed American journalist Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik.

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