A Syrian court has sentenced in absentia the ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother to death. The verdict, delivered this Tuesday, concerns crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the 14-year conflict in Syria, which resulted in the deaths of nearly half a million people.
These verdicts, handed down by the Fourth Criminal Court of Damascus, are the first judicial decisions against Assad or members of his inner circle since the five-decade rule of the Assad family ended 20 months ago. “Bashar al-Assad used state institutions to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity,” stated Judge Fahreddin al-Aryan during the court session, which was broadcast live on state television.
Role of Assad’s brother and cousin
The younger brother of Bashar al-Assad, Maher al-Assad, was the commander of the Fourth Armored Division of the Syrian army. Syrian opposition activists accused this division of killings, torture, extortion, and drug trafficking, as well as running its own detention centers.
Assad and his brother fled to Russia after the fall of the government in December 2024 and were granted political asylum. The new rulers of Syria have called on Russia to extradite the Assads.
Meanwhile, in the same case, the maternal cousin of Assad, Atef Najib, was also sentenced to death. He was found responsible for the repression in the southern province of Daraa, which led to an uprising and subsequently to a civil war. Najib, who was under enhanced security measures, stood in a cage in prison uniform as the judge read the verdict. A crowd of people gathered in front of the court in central Damascus to hear the verdict.
Najib, against whom the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions in April 2011, was later arrested and became one of the highest-ranking officials to be brought to trial. He is a former brigadier general in the Syrian army who in 2011 headed the political security branch in Daraa province under Assad’s command. During his tenure, more than a dozen teenagers who wrote anti-government graffiti on a school wall in Daraa were arrested and tortured. This case became a catalyst for mass protests against the repressive policies of Assad’s security forces. The protests were suppressed by brutal government measures and escalated into a 14-year civil war that ended with the overthrow of Assad during a lightning offensive by rebel groups.
Arrest of former officer in Lebanon
Meanwhile, on Friday, Lebanese authorities arrested Adel Issa, a former high-ranking military officer who commanded a division of the Syrian army under the Assad regime. Lebanon intends to hand him over to Damascus for possible crimes he may have committed. In December 2024, several military personnel and security officials fled to neighboring Lebanon, where some of them remain to this day.
If Major General Adel Issa is handed over to Syria, it will be the first time Beirut has returned a former Assad-era official to the Syrian authorities. Officials noted that Issa, who once commanded the 17th division of the Syrian army, came to the Syrian embassy in Beirut on Friday to process documents. Embassy staff contacted the Lebanese prosecutor’s office to report that Issa was wanted in Syria. After his arrest, Issa told investigators in Beirut that he had illegally crossed the border into Lebanon but denied all charges. This week, Lebanon will decide whether to hand him over to the Syrian authorities.
Bashar al-Assad’s rule
The fall of Assad in 2024 sharply contrasted with his first months as President of Syria in 2000. At that time, many expected him to become a young reformer after three decades of harsh rule by his father. At the age of just 34, a Western-educated ophthalmologist became the leader of the country. When protests against his regime broke out in March 2011, Assad resorted to the brutal tactics of his father, trying to suppress them.
As the uprising turned into a civil war, he used the army to bomb opposition-controlled cities, with the support of allies, including Iran and Russia. The war in Syria claimed the lives of nearly half a million people and forced about half of the country’s pre-war population of approximately 23 million to leave their homes. Millions of Syrians fled to Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and Lebanon, as well as to Europe.
Until the very fall, it seemed that Assad was almost out of danger. In recent years, the long conflict had effectively stabilized along fixed front lines, and the government had regained control over most of Syria’s territory. However, the geopolitical situation changed rapidly after an unexpected offensive launched by opposition groups in northwestern Syria at the end of November that year. Government forces quickly collapsed, while Assad’s allies, preoccupied with other conflicts — including Russia’s war against Ukraine and wars in the Middle East that had lasted for over a year — were either unable or unwilling to intervene.
