French Prosecutors Seek Arrest of Two Syrian Ex-Ministers over 2017 Bomb

Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression poses after an interview with Reuters in Paris, France, September 15, 2023. (Reuters)
Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression poses after an interview with Reuters in Paris, France, September 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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French Prosecutors Seek Arrest of Two Syrian Ex-Ministers over 2017 Bomb

Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression poses after an interview with Reuters in Paris, France, September 15, 2023. (Reuters)
Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression poses after an interview with Reuters in Paris, France, September 15, 2023. (Reuters)

French prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for two Syrian ex-defense ministers over a 2017 bomb that killed a French-Syrian man, a source said, in an unprecedented case that may trigger more quests for accountability in the 12-year war.

Investigators at the Paris Tribunal are accusing Fahed Jassem al-Fraij and Ali Abdallah Aroub of responsibility for the barrel bomb in south Syria that killed Salah Abou Nabout at his home, according to the source familiar with the case.

Al-Fraij was defense minister and commander in chief of the army at the time while Aroub was chief of staff of the armed forces, later promoted to defense minister.

The pair's whereabouts were unknown and they could not be reached for comment.

Warrants were also issued for two other high-ranking officers, the source said.

Nabout died on June 7, 2017, when a barrel stuffed with explosives hit his three-storey home, which also served as a school, in the city of Daraa, said Nabout's son Omar.

The crude weapon has been used extensively by government forces, UN investigators say, generally dropped from helicopters without accurate aim. Syria denies their use.

Syrian authorities could not be reached for comment on the warrants, but Damascus has repeatedly denied accusations of indiscriminate bombing of civilians.

The Paris Tribunal declined to comment on the case.

Nabout's son Omar, a 21-year-old refugee in France at the time of his father's death, and the Paris-based Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCMFE) both welcomed the arrest warrants.

If he could talk to his father now, Omar said in a video interview, "I would tell him to sleep in peace, because the criminals will be held to account."

Thousands of bombs

SCMFE head Mazen Darwish said the warrants could pave the way for further investigations on indiscriminate bombardment both around war-ravaged Syria and in other places like Ukraine or the Palestinian territories.

"It's the first time there's a case regarding the targeting of civilian infrastructure, specifically a school," for Syria, he told Reuters.

Syria's conflict began with peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces responded with a brutal crackdown. As Assad began losing territory, his air force bombed opposition-held towns and were supported by Russian air strikes.

Both Syrian and Russian strikes hit open-air markets, hospitals, schools, and homes in what UN experts have said were indiscriminate bombardments and potential war crimes.

In a 2021 report, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said the government had dropped nearly 82,000 barrel bombs in nine years, killing over 11,000 civilians.

But there has been no accountability through Syrian courts, which critics say only serve Assad's interests.

The head of a UN body seeking justice for atrocities in Syria said "universal jurisdiction" cases like the one in France, where perpetrators can be held accountable abroad for serious crimes, offer an important path for victims.

"Without universal jurisdiction, we would be left with extremely few opportunities of justice. So these cases are really important," Catherine Marchi-Uhel of the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) told Reuters.

There have been several legal proceedings in European countries to try Syrian suspects of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The cases so far in France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands have focused on government officials involved in the Syrian detention system and crimes by members of anti-government factions.



49 Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza over 24 Hours, as Mediators Scramble to Restart Ceasefire

Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
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49 Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza over 24 Hours, as Mediators Scramble to Restart Ceasefire

Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)

 

At least 49 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to health officials, as Arab mediators scrambled to restart a ceasefire.
An airstrike in a neighborhood in western Gaza City early Saturday morning, flattened a three-story house, killing 10 people, according to a cameraman cooperating with The Associated Press. The number was confirmed by Gaza’s Health Ministry, along with three more people who were killed in the Shati refugee camp along the city's shoreline.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strikes.
The attacks come as Hamas said on Saturday that it sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to try and get the stalled ceasefire back on track.
Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month and has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed, or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement President Donald Trump’s proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which has been widely rejected internationally.
Hamas has said it will only release the dozens of hostages it holds in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January.
Hamas said Saturday that the delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the group's vision to end the war, which includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and reconstruction.
Earlier this week, other Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to discuss a proposal that would include a five-to-seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said.
Egypt and Qatar are still developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Meanwhile, Israel has continued its nearly two-month blockade on Gaza even as aid groups warn that supplies are dwindling.
On Friday, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza had run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days.
About 80% of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel’s blockade, according to the UN The WFP has been supporting 47 kitchens that distribute 644,000 hot meals a day, WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 of the Hamas group, without providing evidence.
The war began when the Hamas-led group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.