Atef Najib, cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has been charged with war crimes for his alleged role in orchestrating the crackdown on 2011 protests. The protests eventually escalated into the country's civil war.

Syria's judiciary has charged Atef Najib with acts "amounting to war crimes" as Bashar Assad's cousin is accused of orchestrating a crackdown on 2011 protests that subsequently degenerated into a decade of civil war.