French justice has issued an international arrest warrant against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom it accuses of complicity in crimes against humanity for the chemical attacks carried out in the summer of 2013 in Syria, prosecutors announced today.

A judicial source confirmed the issuance of four arrest warrants for complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes for these gas attacks sarinwhich had claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people on August 21, 2013 in the eastern Gutaaccording to US intelligence agencies.

These arrest warrants also target him brother of Bashar al-Assad, Maher, de facto commander of the Fourth Division, an elite unit of the Syrian army, as well as two generalsGhassan Abbas, director of branch 450 of the Syrian Center for Scientific Studies and Research (CERS), and Bassam al-Hassan, liaison officer and head of security.

Investigators from the crimes against humanity department of the Paris Court have been investigating since April 2021 these chemical attacks that took place in 2013 in Syria and are attributed to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The investigation began following an appeal supported by the accusation by the organizations Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and Syrian Archive.

These investigations, which are carried out in the context of “foreign jurisdiction” of French justice, concern the attacks that took place on the night of August 4 to 5 on Man and Duma (450 wounded).

“This decision is a historic judicial precedent. It is a new victory for the victims, their families and survivors, and a step towards justice and a lasting peace in Syria,” Mazen Darwish, SCM’s founder and director general, said in a statement.