Symbolic imageAfter Tuesday's death sentence in absentia against Bashar al-Assad, attention has shifted to some 3,500 former regime figures still at large; The National reports Syrians call the verdict bittersweet as the country weighs how far transitional justice can reach.
Syria's civil war, in which about 500,000 people were killed, pitted Bashar al-Assad's government against an armed opposition until rebels drove him from power in December 2024, ending five decades of Assad family rule. The country's post-Assad judiciary is now trying him and former officials of his state apparatus over crimes committed during that period.
The National reports that some 3,500 former regime figures remain at large after the in absentia death sentence against Bashar al-Assad, a verdict many Syrians describe as bittersweet. The same paper reports plans for a Damascus investment conference with Lebanon, while Syrian artefacts returned from France went on display at a summer festival in the capital.
Syria has sent letters to the UN secretary-general and the Security Council objecting to Colombia's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. At home, death sentences issued in absentia against ousted leader Bashar al-Assad and eight others have opened a debate over what transitional justice can deliver.
A Damascus court on Tuesday sentenced ousted president Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher and seven other former officials to death over the civil war that killed about 500,000 people.