A French courtroom points the warrants in reference to the bombing of a press centre in Homs in 2012 that killed two journalists.
Revealed On 2 Sep 2025
A French courtroom has issued arrest warrants for seven former high Syrian officers, together with ex-President Bashar al-Assad, for the bombing of a press centre in Homs, a judicial supply and a human rights organisation stated.
A rocket hit the “casual press centre” on February 22, 2012, killing famend US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik and injuring two different journalists and an interpreter.
In addition to al-Assad, who fled to Russia in December 2024 when opposition fighters seized management of Syria, warrants have additionally been issued towards his brother Maher al-Assad, who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armoured division on the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of employees Ali Ayoub, amongst others.
France permits the submitting of crimes towards humanity circumstances in its courts.
The Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression stated that the French judicial investigation had discovered that the assault had intentionally focused international journalists.
“The judicial investigation clearly established that the assault on the casual press centre in Bab Amr was a part of the Syrian regime’s express intention to focus on international journalists with a purpose to restrict media protection of its crimes and drive them to go away town and the nation,” stated Mazen Darwish, a lawyer and the final director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, in an announcement.
Paris-based Worldwide Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) additionally famous that the journalists had clandestinely entered the besieged metropolis to “doc the crimes dedicated by Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and have been victims of a “focused bombing”.
Clemence Bectarte, lawyer FIDH and Ochlik’s dad and mom, welcomed Tuesday’s warrants and known as it “a decisive step that paves the best way for a trial in France for warfare crimes and crimes towards humanity dedicated by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”
British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier and Syrian translator Wael Omar have been additionally wounded within the assault on the casual press centre the place they’d been working.
Colvin was recognized for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch, which she wore after shedding sight in a single eye in an explosion throughout Sri Lanka’s civil warfare. Her profession was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated movie, A Non-public Battle.
Homs, in western Syria, was a significant insurgent stronghold in the course of the Syrian warfare and was besieged by al-Assad authorities forces from 2011 to 2014. The siege ended with insurgent forces withdrawing from town.