The French government has started the process required to strip Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad of his Legion of Honour award, reports The Blaze.
The move comes just days after France joined the United States and the United Kingdom in launching missile strikes against Assad’s government.
The Legion of Honour (in French: Légion d’Honneur) is the highest award of civil merit given by the French government. It was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
In November, the French government announced that it was drastically reducing the number of awards it gave out each year and raising the bar for what qualified a person to receive one. The change happened after the country successfully stripped Harvey Weinstein of his Legion of Honour. Before this, French presidents would bestow the award on about 3,000 people per year.
In 2001, Assad was given the award by French President Jacques Chirac. Consequently, Chirac also tried to secretly award the Legion of Honour to Assad’s staunch ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Originally, the Legion of Honour was awarded permanently. That changed in 2010, when former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was extradited to France — while still technically bearing the Legion of Honour he was given in 1987.