Syria sentenced former dictator Bashar Al-Assad to death in absentia for war crimes.
His 24 years in office were marked by a brutal crackdown in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring protests and the subsequent Syrian civil war, in which an estimated 600,000 people died. Assad’s regime was accused of war crimes for attacking civilians, including with chemical weapons.
Assad fled to Russia, his strongest backer, after he was deposed in 2024: Moscow supported him during the war, and used its UN veto to block International Criminal Court indictments. The Kremlin is now cooperating with the new regime in Damascus, including transferring control of two former Mediterranean military bases, but is unlikely to extradite its guest.