France arrests suspect in chemical weapons investigation in Syria | Today Headlines

LE PECQ, France – French investigators announced on Monday that they had arrested a man suspected of supplying the Syrian authorities with materials that could be used in the manufacture of chemical weapons.

The dual Franco-Syrian national was arrested in the south of France while on vacation with his family and is being held on a preliminary basis as complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, an officer said. French justice. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation covered by legal confidentiality rules.

International investigators have accused Syrian government forces of using poisonous gases and nerve agents in the country’s ten-year civil war. In April, member states of the global chemical weapons watchdog suspended Syria’s voting rights in the organization as punishment for Damascus’ repeated use of poison gas.

The man detained in France is suspected of having used a transport company in France and the United Arab Emirates to deliver equipment to Syria in violation of an international embargo. The man was the subject of preliminary charges on Saturday and is being kept in detention, the judicial official said.

The name of the man and his company was not given. The judicial official did not provide details of the materials he is suspected of transporting.