A judge in Damascus on Sunday detailed the charges against Atef Najib, a cousin of Bashar Assad and formerly a senior security official in Syria , as the first trial of Assad-era officials gets moving.  Former President Assad, his brother Maher and several other senior officials face trial in absentia. They are believed to have fled to Russia as the former Syrian government fell in December 2024 . Najib, the former head of political security in the south Syrian province of Daraa, where peaceful