
Assad's regime on trial for crimes against humanity. The court is about to rule on most senior official yet
CNN
A German court is set to rule on the case of a Syrian colonel accused of committing crimes against humanity on Thursday, in the first-ever torture trial against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Anwar Raslan, a senior regime official, headed the investigation unit at a notorious Damascus detention center known as Branch 251. He is charged with complicity in at least 4,000 cases of torture, dozens of murders and three cases of sexual assault and rape.
His co-defendant, Eyad al-Gharib, a junior officer who also served in the facility, was convicted in February 2021 for aiding and abetting torture and deprivation of liberty as crimes against humanity. He is serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.










