A Syrian man went on trial in Germany Tuesday accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity while fighting for Hezbollah on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The defendant, identified by the court in Stuttgart only as 32-year-old Ammar A., faces charges including killings and torture.
He was allegedly a leader of a Shiite Muslim militia, which joined with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighting on the side of the Assad regime in the Syrian civil war. The accused has been in custody since December and trial dates have been set until late February.
The war between Assad's regime and armed opposition groups erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.
The conflict has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions more and ravaged Syria's economy and infrastructure.
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