France Arrests Man Alleged To Have Helped Syria Produce Chemical Weapons

French police have detained a French-Syrian man accused of providing to Syria the components needed to manufacture chemical weapons in the Arab country. The components were sent through the arrested man’s shipping company, the French news agency AFP reported, citing unnamed sources. The man, who was visiting France with his family, was arrested over the weekend in the south of France. He is being held on suspicion of “conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity, accessory to crimes against humanity and accessory to war crimes,” for assisting in the production of non-conventional weapons from the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011 until early 2018, an unnamed judicial source told AFP. Syria has denied using chemical weapons during its decade-long civil war, which has led to the death of nearly half a million people. It is the first time that someone has been investigated for supporting the Syrian army, according to the report.