Germany arrests 2 Syrians, one of them accused of war crimes related to a deadly attack in 2013

BERLIN (AP) — Prosecutors say two Syrian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of membership in extremist groups, and one of them is suspected of involvement in a 2013 attack in eastern Syria in which more than 60 Shiite fighters and civilians were killed. The suspects were arrested on Wednesday. One of them is charged with war crimes in relation to a June 2013 attack on Hatla, in eastern Deir el-Zour province. At the time, the attack underlined the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria’s civil war. Germany’s application of the rule of “universal jurisdiction,” allowing the prosecution of serious crimes committed abroad, led last year to the first conviction of a senior Syrian official for crimes against humanity.