France's Court of Cassation, the country's highest court, ruled on Friday that a warrant issued for former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was invalid.
According to the judge and president of the Court of Cassation, the arrest warrant was issued while he was still in office; however, he added that a new warrant can be issued now that he is no longer the head of state.
This warrant was issued in November 2023 by French judges following an investigation taking place in France into the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013 and Douma in 2018 by Assad's regime. More than 1,000 people were killed in these attacks.
The government of then-President Bashar al-Assad repeatedly denied deploying chemical weapons during Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011.
France’s Court of Cassation has overturned a 2024 ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal, which had previously upheld the validity of an arrest warrant related to the case.
Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December of 2024 by Islamist rebels, whose leader has since assumed the role of interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa.
