France opens war crimes inquiry against Assad regime—sources

This Aug. 19, 2009 file photo shows Syrian President Bashar Assad during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Iran. Speaking in an interview with Russian media, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, Assad said the refugee crisis now hitting Europe is a direct result of the West’s support of “terrorists” in Syria. The Russian president has said it is impossible to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group without cooperating with Damascus, and in recent days has sent about a half-dozen battle tanks and other weaponry to Syria. AP Photo

PARIS, France—French authorities have launched a criminal probe of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for alleged war crimes committed between 2011 and 2013, sources said.

Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary war crimes inquiry on September 15, a source close to the case told AFP. A diplomatic source confirmed the launch of the probe.

The investigation is focusing on evidence provided by a former Syrian army photographer known by the codename “Caesar,” who defected and fled the country in 2013, bringing with him some 55,000 graphic photographs of scenes from the brutal conflict.

The announcement comes as the four-year war in Syria takes center-stage at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have clashed over how to bring an end to the crisis.

French President Francois Hollande has joined Obama in insisting Assad cannot play a role in the country’s future, against opposition from Damascus’s allies Russia and Iran.

“Russia and Iran say they want to be part of a solution,” Hollande said.

“So we must work with these countries to explain to them that the route to a solution does not go through Bashar al-Assad.”

RELATED STORIES

France carries out first air strikes on ISIS in Syria

Obama and Putin meet on Syria, remain divided on Assad’s fate