France's highest court Friday annulled a French arrest warrant against Syria's ex-president Bashar al-Assad -- issued before his ouster -- over 2013 deadly chemical attacks.

The Court of Cassation ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But its presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was no longer president after an Islamist-led group toppled him in December, "new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him" and as such the investigation into the case could continue.

Human rights advocates had hoped the court would rule that immunity did not apply because of the severity of the allegations, which would have set a major precedent in international law towards holding accused war criminals to account.

They said that, in this regard, it was a missed opportunity.

"This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes........

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