French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six high-ranking ex-officials in connection with the 2012 bombing of a rebel-controlled city that resulted in the deaths of two journalists, according to lawyers on Tuesday.
Marie Colvin, a 56-year-old American correspondent for The Sunday Times of the UK, and 28-year-old French photojournalist Remi Ochlik were killed on February 22, 2012, in an explosion in the city of Homs. French prosecutors are treating the incident as a possible war crime and crime against humanity.
Several others were injured in the shelling of the makeshift press center, including British photographer Paul Conroy, French journalist Edith Bouvier, and Syrian interpreter Wael Omar.
Assad fled to Russia with his family after being overthrown by Islamist rebels in late 2024, although his exact location remains unknown.
In addition to Assad, the arrest warrants name his brother Maher al-Assad, then commander of the 4th Armoured Division, former intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and ex-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub.
Clemence Bectarte, legal representative for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ochlik’s family, stated that the warrants represent a major step toward holding the Assad regime accountable for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
FIDH reported that the journalists had covertly entered the besieged city to document atrocities allegedly committed by Assad’s forces and were deliberately targeted in the bombing.
According to Mazen Darwish, director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) and a legal advocate, the investigation found that the attack on the press center was part of a deliberate strategy by the Syrian government to silence foreign media and suppress coverage of its actions.
Colvin, renowned for her fearless journalism and recognizable black eye patch—worn after losing an eye during an explosion in Sri Lanka—was honored in the Golden Globe-nominated biopic A Private War.