Assad returns Légion d'honneur to France
In the wake of French participation in strikes against Syrian regime targets in response to alleged chemical attacks on civilians, Assad returns prestigious award to France via Romanian embassy in Damascus, says no desire to hold award from 'slave country that supports terrorists.'
France grants the Légion d'honneur to around 3,000 people a year, including 400 foreigners recognized for their "services rendered to France" or for defending human rights, press freedom or other causes.
Recently, many in France have called on the government to revoke the award due to the mass slaughter Assad was perpetrating on Syrian civilians in the protracted Syrian civil war.
The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that "a disciplinary procedure for withdrawing the Légion d'honneur is underway."
A source close to the presidency, quoted in the statement, said the decision comes after the "participation of France in the tripartite aggression alongside the United States and the United Kingdom against Syria on April 14." Assad has been accused of a series of chemical attacks on his own people during the brutal civil war which has torn Syria apart since 2011.
"The ministry of foreign affairs... has returned to the French republic... the decoration of the Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur awarded to President Assad by Jacques Chirac," said the Syrian foreign ministry.
"It is no honor for President Assad to wear a decoration of a country subservient to the United States that supports terrorists," the statement said.
The award was returned to France via the Romanian Embassy in Damascus, which currently represents French interests in Syria.
Assad has become a pariah for Western powers while maintaining the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military intervention in the conflict gave Assad the upper hand against rebel opposition groups.
Putin himself is also a recipient of the Légion's Grand Croix—decorated by Chirac as well in 2006.
It is not the first time Macron has stripped a foreigner of France's highest honor. Recently he moved to withdraw the award from Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein who is facing a series of accusations of sexual harassment and rape.
