PARIS: French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, lawyers said Tuesday.
Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times of Britain, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on February 22, 2012 by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity as well as a war crime. British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier and Syrian translator Wael Omar were wounded in the attack on the informal press centre where they had been working.
Assad escaped with his family to Russia after being ousted by Islamist rebels at the end of 2024 although his precise whereabouts have not been confirmed. Other than Assad, the warrants notably target his brother Maher al-Assad who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armoured division at the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub.
