France Arrests Top Syrian Islamist Group Member on War Crimes Charges

A senior member of Syrian Islamist armed group Jaysh al-Islam has been arrested in France and charged with war crimes and torture, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

The man, born in 1988, a former spokesman of the group, was in France on an Erasmus student visa and detained in the southern city of Marseille. 

He appeared before an investigating magistrate in Paris who charged him with torture, war crimes and complicity in forced disappearances, said the source.

Jaysh al-Islam is one of several hardline Islamist groups opposing the Damascus regime that have emerged during the Syrian civil war. 

It has fought against Islamic State (IS) jihadists but also been accused by rights groups of abuses.