French investigating magistrates have issued an arrest warrant for ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad on charges of involvement in war crimes, particularly the "deliberate attacks on civilians", a legal source revealed to Reuters late on Tuesday.

On January 20, the mandate was issued as part of an investigation into the case of Salah Abou Nabour, a Franco-Syrian national who was killed in a bombing raid in Syria on June 7, 2017.

This is the second arrest warrant issued by French judges for the former Syrian leader who was overthrown in early December 2024 by armed forces led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

In November 2023, French judges issued the first warrant against al-Assad on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes following a controversial chemical attack in Douma. Many Western countries have accused the former Syrian regime of the attack, but critics said the OPCW report on it was littered with inconsistencies.

Assad's government has previously denied using chemical weapons against its opponents during the civil war, which began in March 2011. However, Assad's government has previously denied using chemical weapons against the opposition.

France issues arrest warrant for al-Assad and 3 other Syrian officials

Last year, an international warrant was issued for the arrest of al-Assad, Syrian General and former commander of the Syrian Arab Army Republican Guard, Maher al-Assad, and two other Syrian Arab Army generals.

Since 2021, the French court has concerned itself with investigating the alleged 2013 chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs which has been widely debunked.

The investigation and lawsuit followed a joint complaint that was filed, in France, by the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) NGO, the lawyers' association Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), and the Syrian Archive.

It is important to note that SCM's headquarters are in France after its offices were shut down repeatedly in Damascus, the last time being in 2012. The OSJI was established by the George Soros Open Society Foundation, and the Syrian Archive was established in 2014, allegedly to document the 2011 events in Syria.