World
French court sentences 3 Syrian officials to life in prison in absentia for war crimes
A Paris court sentenced three high-ranking Syrian officials in absentia to life in prison Friday for complicity in war crimes in a landmark case against the regime of Syria’s President Bashar Assad and the first such case in Europe.
The trial focused on the officials’ role in the alleged arrest, torture and killing in 2013 in Damascus of Mazen Dabbagh, a Franco-Syrian father, and his son Patrick. The four-day trial featured harrowing testimonies from survivors and searing accounts from Mazen’s brother.
FRANCE IS TRYING SYRIAN EX-OFFICIALS FOR THE TORTURE AND KILLING OF A FATHER AND SON. HERE’S WHY
Though the verdict was cathartic for plaintiffs, France and Syria do not have an extradition treaty, making the outcome largely symbolic. International arrest warrants for the three former Syrian intelligence officials — Ali Mamlouk, Jamil Hassan, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud — have been issued since 2018 to no avail.
They are the most senior Syrian officials to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country’s civil war.
The court proceedings came as Assad has started to shed his longtime status as a pariah that stemmed from the violence unleashed on his opponents. Human rights groups involved in the case hoped it would refocus attention on alleged atrocities.
Clémence Bectarte, the Dabbagh family lawyer from the International Federation for Human Rights, said the verdict was the “first recognition in France of the crimes against humanity of the Syrian regime.”
Activists hold Syrian flags next to portraits of alleged victims of the Syrian regime, during a demonstration Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at a courtroom in Paris. A Paris court will this week seek to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials — the most senior to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country’s civil war — were responsible for the 2013 disappearance and deaths of Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh. The four-day hearings, starting Tuesday, are expected to air chilling allegations that President Bashar Assad’s government has widely used torture and arbitrary detentions to hold on to power during the conflict, now in its 14th year. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
“It is a message of hope for all Syrian victims who are waiting for justice. It is a message that must be addressed to states so that they do not normalize their relations with the regime of Bashar al-Assad,” she said.
The trial began Tuesday over the alleged torture and killing of the French-Syrian father and son who were arrested at the height of Arab Spring-inspired anti-government protests. The two were arrested in Damascus following a crackdown on demonstrations that later turned into a brutal civil war, now in its 14th year.
The probe into their disappearance started in 2015 when Obeida Dabbagh, Mazen’s brother, testified to investigators already examining war crimes in Syria.
Obeida Dabbagh and his wife, Hanane, are parties to the trial along with non-governmental organizations. They testified in court on Thursday, the third day of the trial.
Obeida Dabbagh said he hoped the trial would set a precedent for holding Assad accountable. “Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died. Even today, some live in fear and terror,” he said.
Despite the defendants’ absence, the trial’s significance was underscored by Brigitte Herremans, a senior researcher at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. “It’s very important that perpetrators from the regime side are held accountable, even if it’s mainly symbolic. It means a lot for the fight against impunity,” she said.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all JetBlue flights due to a request from the airline, the agency said Tuesday.
The ground stop impacts flights to all destinations, according to the advisory.
It was not immediately clear why JetBlue requested the ground stop or how long it would last.
The airline and the FAA didn’t immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press requesting more information.
The airline, which was founded more than 25 years ago, has its headquarters in New York City and its flagship terminal at the city’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
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President Donald Trump said he wants to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, saying it would be an “honor” to do so in an effort to help other nations that rely on the vital Middle East waterway.
Trump was speaking with reporters in Florida on Monday, when he was asked about the global energy choke point, which has been disrupted amid back-and-forth attacks between Iran and Israel and the United States.
IRAN SEIZES OIL TANKERS, THREATENS ‘MASSACRE’ IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ HOURS BEFORE US TALKS
People mourn slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Thursday, in Isfahan, Iran. (Payman Shahsanaei/ISNA via AP)
At about 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz is between Iran and Oman and carries roughly 20 million barrels a day and about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas, making it a top-value target when conflict in the region erupts.
“We’re really helping China here and other countries because they get a lot of their energy from the Straits,” Trump said. “We have a good relationship with China. It’s my honor to do it.”
US POSITIONS AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, STRIKE PLATFORMS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN TALKS SHIFT TO OMAN
A screenshot of a marine traffic terminal showing vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on March 4. (Kpler/Marine Traffic)
Trump is slated to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month. While touting the United States’ new energy partnership with Venezuela, Trump noted that China gets its oil through the strait.
“I mean, we’re doing this for the other parts of the world, including countries like China,” he said. “They get a lot of their oil through the straits.”
“We have a very good relationship with President XI (Jinping) and China,” he added. “I’m going there in a short period of time, and we’re protecting the world from what these lunatics are trying to do, and very successfully I might add.”
President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a bilateral meeting at Gimhae Air Base on Oct. 30, 2025, in Busan, South Korea. Trump said he wants to keep the Strait of Hormuz open in the Middle East for countries, including China. ( Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The U.S. will also waive all oil-related sanctions on some countries in an effort to reduce energy prices amid the conflict in the Middle East, Trump said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took to Iranian State TV vowing it would “not allow [the] export of a single liter of oil.”
Later, Trump reaffirmed his position on the strait in a fiery Truth Social post.
“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far. Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!,” he wrote.
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“This is a gift from the United States of America to China, and all of those Nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait. Hopefully, it is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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NATO forces have intercepted an Iranian missile heading to Türkiye for the second time in less than a week, as US-Israeli strikes on Iran throw the wider Middle East into conflict.
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Last Wednesday, Türkiye’s Ministry of Defence said it intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile headed toward Turkish airspace close to the Syria border.
Confirming the incident, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said “NATO stands firm in its readiness to defend all Allies against any threat”.
According to NATO sources, there is as yet no indication Türkiye is triggering formal proceedings within the alliance to initiate action against Iran.
However, the Turkish government summoned Iran’s ambassador to Ankara for a formal rebuke over the incident.
The US has a military presence at the Incirlik airbase in the south of the country.
“NATO has been clear it has strong interception capabilities”, Colonel Martin O’Donnell, spokesperson for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, told Euronews, saying that while Iran is “targeting the US footprint in various countries” it is also attacking public spaces “indiscriminately”.
While NATO has increased its security posture to a heightened level until the threat subsides, O’Donnell reiterated NATO’s position that it is not a party to the conflict, despite the fact the conflict is being prosecuted by the US, the alliance’s most powerful member by far.
“The Secretary General has been clear that NATO is not part of this war, but NATO will defend itself”, he said, speaking to Euronews from NATO HQ in Brussels on Monday.
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