French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six senior ex-officials over the 2012 bombing of Homs that killed American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

The strike, on February 22, 2012, targeted an informal press centre in the rebel-held city. Colvin, 56, of The Sunday Times, and Ochlik, 28, died in the blast. British photographer Paul Conroy, French journalist Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar were injured.

French authorities are investigating the attack as both a war crime and a possible crime against humanity.

Assad, ousted by Islamist rebels in late 2024 and now believed to be in Russia, is accused of orchestrating the strike to silence foreign media coverage. The warrants also name his brother Maher al-Assad, then-head of the 4th Armoured Division, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and former army chief Ali Ayoub.

Lawyer Clémence Bectarte, representing the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ochlik’s family, hailed the move as “a decisive step” toward accountability for crimes committed by the Assad regime.

The FIDH said the journalists had entered Homs covertly to report on regime atrocities and were deliberately targeted. Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), added that the investigation confirmed a clear intent to attack foreign journalists and suppress coverage.

Colvin, renowned for her fearless war reporting and signature black eye patch—worn after a prior injury in Sri Lanka—was portrayed by Rosamund Pike in the Golden Globe-nominated film A Private War.

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