\n A Syrian man went on trial in Germany Tuesday accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity while fighting for Hezbollah on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime.\n<\/p>\n
\n The defendant, identified by the court in Stuttgart only as 32-year-old Ammar A., faces charges including killings and torture.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was allegedly a leader of a Shiite Muslim militia, which joined with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighting on the side of the Assad regime in the Syrian civil war.\n<\/p>\n
\n The defendant is accused of participating in attacks on Sunni Muslims in the regime-controlled southern town of Busra al-Sham in 2012.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prosecutors say Ammar A. was part of an attack on a civilian residence where one person was shot dead and their home looted and burnt.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ammar A. is also accused of taking prisoner and abusing Sunni residents in Busra al-Sham on two occasions between 2013-2014.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prosecutors allege that in one instance, the victims were handed over to Syrian military intelligence, who tortured the captives.\n<\/p>\n
\n The accused has been in custody since December and trial dates have been set until late February.\n<\/p>\n
\n The war between Assad's regime and armed opposition groups erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.\n<\/p>\n
\n The conflict has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions more and ravaged Syria's economy and infrastructure.\n<\/p>\n
\n Germany -- home to large numbers of Syrian, Iraqi and other asylum seekers -- has previously tried alleged war criminals under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows for trials regardless of where the offences were committed.\n<\/p>\n
\n Trials into Syrian regime abuses have also been held elsewhere in Europe, including France and Sweden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Syrian man went on trial in Germany Tuesday accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity while fighting for Hezbollah on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime. The defendant, identified by the court in Stuttgart only as 32-year-old Ammar A., faces charges including killings and torture. He was allegedly a leader of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-137114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n