Syria issues arrest warrant for former President Bashar Assad

Sara Gharaibeh, Bloomberg News on Sep 27, 2025

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Syria issued an arrest warrant for former Syrian President Bashar Assad, paving the way for the circulation of the order to Interpol to allow for international action.

The warrant cites charges including premeditated murder, torture leading to death, and the deprivation of liberty, according to the state-run Sana, and is based on lawsuits submitted by the families of victims in the southern governorate of Deraa over events that occurred in November 2011.

Assad and his family fled to Russia in December after rebel groups toppled his government, following 13 years of civil war that broke out with pro-democracy protests and an ensuing crackdown by Assad’s regime. Several foreign powers got involved in the conflict, including Russia, Iran, the U.S. and Turkey.

The former president has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians and widespread torture during the Syrian war.

More than 600,000 people had been killed in Syria’s civil war as of March 2024, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based group that closely monitors the conflict.

More than half of the prewar population of 23 million had been displaced, either to other regions inside Syria or to other countries, according to the United Nations.