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Sanctions imposed on Syria

23 May 2011 21:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The European Union imposed sanctions on Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, raising pressure on his government to end violence against protesters, EU diplomats said, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Syrian security forces have used tanks, gunfire and mass arrests to crack down on flashpoints to try to crush a two-month-old revolt against four decades of rule by the Assad family, witnesses say. Bashar al-Assad has ruled for 11 years.
Syrian authorities have blamed most of the violence on armed groups backed by Islamists and foreign powers, who they say have killed more than 120 members of the security forces.
Here are some details on the sanctions:
* EUROPEAN SANCTIONS:
-- EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add Assad and around a dozen other senior government figures to a list of those banned from traveling to the EU and subject to asset freezes.
-- The European Union listed 13 Syrian officials on its sanctions list on May 17, including a brother of Assad.
-- The measures, including asset freezes and travel bans, are part of a package of sanctions, including an arms embargo.
-- Included in the sanctions was Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Assad, who owns Syria’s largest mobile phone company, Syriatel, and several large firms in the construction and oil sectors.
-- The list also included the president’s brother, Maher al-Assad, who commands Syria’s Republican Guard and is the second most powerful man in Syria.
-- Also affected was Ali Mamlouk, head of the General Intelligence Service, and Adulfattah Qudsiyeh, who runs military intelligence.
-- On the same day, Switzerland said it would impose travel bans on 13 Syrian officials and freeze any of their assets held in Swiss banks.
-- Roland Vock, head of the office for sanctions at the Swiss Secretariat for Economics (SECO), said Swiss banks would have to check whether they hold assets of any of the 13 officials and notify the government. -- Measures also include an arms embargo, although Switzerland has not exported any weapons to Syria for at least the last 10 years, the SECO said.
* U.S. SANCTIONS:
-- The United States imposed sanctions on Syria’s intelligence agency and two relatives of President Bashar al-Assad on April 29, in Washington’s first concrete steps in response to the bloody crackdown on protests.
-- The sanctions, which included asset freezes and bans on U.S. business dealings, built on broader U.S. measures against Syria in place since 2004.
-- The U.S. Treasury Department said it would freeze any assets owned by Syrian officials that fell within U.S. jurisdiction, and bar U.S. individuals and companies from dealing with them.
-- On May 18, the U.S. added Assad himself to the sanctions to press him to carry out promised political reforms.
-- Syria’s vice president, prime minister, interior and defense ministers, the head of military intelligence and director of the political security branch are also hit by those sanctions.