French arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad in chemical massacre. Assad regime launched chemical attacks that killed more than a thousand people. French judiciary on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant. The arrest warrants target his brother Maher, the de facto commander of the Syrian army's Fourth Division, and two other brigadier generals. The judicial action was based on a criminal complaint filed by the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, the Syrian Archive, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Civil Rights Defenders Organization.