France issues arrest warrant against Assad

The investigating judges suspect Assad of complicity in the murder and the attack on civilians. The newspaper "Le Parisien" reported that the 59-year-old Frenchman died when his house in the southern Syrian city of Daraa was bombed by Syrian army helicopters.

Referring to investigative circles, the newspaper wrote that France's judiciary suspected that Assad had ordered the attack. He is also said to have provided the necessary means. At the time, the government under Assad was trying to wrest control of Daraa back from the opposition forces.

France has also issued an arrest warrant for Assad in connection with poison gas attacks near the Syrian capital Damascus in August 2013. Hundreds of people were killed there in an attack using the nerve gas sarin. Human rights organizations speak of more than 1000 fatalities.