France issues arrest warrants against Syria's President Assad-source

French investigative judges have issued arrest warrants for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and two other senior officials over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in Syria, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The arrest warrants -- which refer to the legal qualifications of complicity in crimes against humanity and in war crimes -- follow a criminal investigation into chemical attacks in the district of Eastern Ghouta in August 2013, which killed more than 1,000 people.