The Syrian government has been found culpable for the killing of veteran conflict correspondent Marie Colvin in a £230m judgment in a US court - a landmark case holding Bashar al-Assad’s government to account for war crimes.

The civil lawsuit, filed by Colvin’s sister Cathleen in Washington DC, was the first of its kind brought in America against the Syrian regime over its conduct in the war.

Colvin, 56, was killed on February 22, 2012, when the makeshift media centre where she and other journalists were working came under fire in the rebel-held Bab Amr neighbourhood of Homs, Syria.

In this week’s ruling, the court found that Colvin, a long-time reporter for the Sunday Times newspaper, was deliberately targeted. After tracking Colvin through intercepted satellite calls and informants, Syrian senior officials ordered an artillery strike against her location, killing Colvin and French photographer Rémi Ochlik, and wounding French reporter Edith Bouvier, as well as Paul Conroy, the photographer working with Colvin, and Syrian media activist Wael al-Omar.