France issues arrest warrant for Assad over 2012 journalist killings in Syria

French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials in connection with the 2012 bombardment of the rebel-held city of Homs, which killed two journalists, lawyers announced on September 2.

Marie Colvin, 56, an American correspondent for The Sunday Times of Britain, and French photographer Rémi Ochlik, 28, were killed on February 22, 2012, when an explosion struck the makeshift press centre where they were working. The French judiciary is investigating the incident as both a potential crime against humanity and a war crime, Caliber.Az reports, citing French media.

Several others were seriously injured in the same attack, including British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar.

Assad fled to Russia with his family after being ousted by Islamist rebels at the end of 2024, though his exact whereabouts remain unknown.

Alongside Assad, the arrest warrants target Maher al-Assad, his brother and then-de facto commander of the 4th Syrian Armored Division; Ali Mamlouk, then-intelligence chief; and Ali Ayoub, the former army chief of staff.

"The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad's regime," said Clémence Bectarte, lawyer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and for Ochlik's parents.

The FIDH stressed that the journalists had clandestinely entered Homs to “document the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad's regime” and became victims of a “targeted bombing.”

By Vugar Khalilov