Former Syrian General to Face Swedish Court over Alleged War Crimes

Police officers intervene at the scene where a man set a copy of the Quran on fire outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, June 28, 2023. EPA/STEFAN JERREVANG
Police officers intervene at the scene where a man set a copy of the Quran on fire outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, June 28, 2023. EPA/STEFAN JERREVANG
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Former Syrian General to Face Swedish Court over Alleged War Crimes

Police officers intervene at the scene where a man set a copy of the Quran on fire outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, June 28, 2023. EPA/STEFAN JERREVANG
Police officers intervene at the scene where a man set a copy of the Quran on fire outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, June 28, 2023. EPA/STEFAN JERREVANG

A former Syrian army general will appear before a Stockholm court over his alleged role in war crimes committed in Syria in 2012, according to the indictment seen Wednesday by AFP.

Mohammed Hamo, 65, who lives in Sweden, is accused of having participated in the call for indiscriminate strikes in and around the cities of Hama and Homs between January 1 and July 20, 2012.

The strikes were carried out by air and land without distinction -- as required by international law -- between civilian and military targets, the indictment states.

They also failed to respect the principle of proportionality to achieve the military goal sought, prosecutor Karolina Wieslander said. Hamo, given his role at the time, is accused of being complicit in these crimes.

He had particularly made decisions related to arming operational units and was responsible in that period for implementing various military operations, according to AFP.

Seven civil parties, several of them Syrians from the cities in question, will testify during the trial.

Among them is a British photographer who was injured during one of the strikes.



Biden Is Laying Low at the White House on Election Day

US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
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Biden Is Laying Low at the White House on Election Day

US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)

US President Joe Biden has no public appearances on his schedule and his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, won’t be holding her typical daily briefing on Tuesday.

Biden made his final campaign appearance on Saturday when he delivered a speech to laborers on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

He hasn’t taken a question from reporters since gaggling at an event in Baltimore last Tuesday.

Later that same day, Biden created an uproar in remarks to Latino activists when he responded to racist comments at a Trump rally made by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to the US island territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told the Latino group on a Tuesday evening video call, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

The dizzying presidential contest between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris hurtled toward an uncertain finish on Tuesday as millions of Americans headed to the polls to choose between two sharply different visions for the country.

A race churned by unprecedented events – two assassination attempts against Trump, Biden's surprise withdrawal and Harris' rapid rise – remained neck and neck as Election Day dawned, even after billions of dollars in spending and months of frenetic campaigning.