List of international sanctions against Syria, asset freezes travel bans and arms embargo

List of international sanctions against Syria

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List of international sanctions against Syria http://t.co/fQlue7cN

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List of international sanctions against SyriaDecember 03, 2011 01:23 AM

In this photo provided by the Turkish Presidency Press Office, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, and Turkish President Abdullah Gul pose for photographers during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Biden urged Turkey to impose new sanctions against Iran and praised Ankara for its role in pressuring Syria to stop its bloody crackdown on protesters. (AP Photo/Turkish Presidency Press Office, Murat Cetinmuhurdar) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

- EUROPEAN SANCTIONS:The EU put 13 Syrian officials on its sanctions list on May 17. The measures included asset freezes and travel bans and arms embargo. Included were the president’s brother, Maher Assad, who commands the Republican Guard; Ali Mamlouk, head of the General Intelligence Service; and Abdul-Fattah Qudsiyeh, who runs military intelligence. The next day, Switzerland imposed travel bans on 13 Syrian officials and a freeze on their assets.On May 23, the EU imposed sanctions on Assad himself, along with nine other senior Syrian officials. The next day, Switzerland followed suit.

The EU published new sanctions on June 24 to include the three commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and on business entities Bena Properties, the Al-Mashreq Investment Fund, the Hamsho International Group and the Military Housing Establishment.

Five new Syrians were added on Aug. 2, including Defense Minister Ali Habib; Major General Tawfiq Younes, head of internal security for the intelligence directorate; and Mohammad Mufleh, head of military intelligence in Hama.

EU governments agreed on Sept. 2 to ban imports of Syrian oil and extended sanctions to seven new Syrian individuals and entities. The EU ban on European firms from making new investments in Syria’s oil industry took effect on Sept. 24. EU sanctions allowed imports of Syrian oil until Nov. 15 under contracts signed before Sept. 2. The union imposed new sanctions on Sept. 24 on Syriatel, Addounia television, and three construction and investment firms.

On Nov. 15, it added 18 more to its list of people sanctioned.

On Dec. 1, the EU agreed new sanctions on Syria’s oil and financial sectors. They also added 12 persons and 11 institutions and firms to an asset freeze and asset ban list, and prohibited financial support for trade and loans to the government. New sanctions also banned the export of equipment for the Syrian oil and gas industry as well as technical equipment used for surveillance. - TURKEY:Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Nov. 30 all relations with Syria’s central bank were being suspended and that a cooperation agreement with Syria was being halted, as well as all financial credit dealings. Turkey has also frozen Syrian government assets and will block delivery of all weapons and military equipment to Damascus as part of measures aimed at ending a crackdown on protesters.

- ARAB LEAGUE:Arab states agreed on Nov. 27 to impose economic measures, the toughest against a member state. All dealings with the Syrian central bank and the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria were suspended. Financial dealings and trade agreements with Syria were halted.

The Arab League proposed on Dec. 1 a travel ban on 17 Syrians from Assad’s inner circle and intelligence agencies. The names will be presented to Arab ministers at a Dec. 3 meeting in Doha.

They include: Maher Hafez Assad, commander of the Republican Guard; Rami Makhlouf, Assad’s influential cousin and confidante, former owner of one of the country’s largest mobile phone companies, Syriatel, and several large firms in the construction and oil sectors; Assef Shawkat, the former head of military intelligence, now deputy chief-of-staff who is married to Assad’s sister and was among the Syrians named in the preliminary U.N. report which implicated him in Hariri’s killing; Rustom Ghazali, the head of Syria’s military intelligence for its rural Damascus branch; Hafez Makhlouf, a cousin and childhood friend of Bashar Assad and head of the Damascus branch of the General Security Directorate; Atif Najib, the Alawite brigadier general and head of the Political Security Directorate for Daraa, during March 2011 when protests first erupted; Abdul-Fattah Qudsiyeh, the head of military intelligence; Daoud Abdullah Rajha, the new defense minister who replaced former Minister Ali Habib Mahmoud in August; Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar, interior minister and former commander of military police.

- U.S. SANCTIONS: The United States imposed sanctions on Syria’s intelligence agency and two relatives of Assad on April 29, in Washington’s first concrete steps in response to the crackdown. The sanctions included asset freezes and bans on U.S. business dealings, and were built on broader U.S. measures against Syria in place since 2004.

On May 18, Washington added Assad to the sanctions, Syria’s vice president, prime minister, interior and defense ministers, the head of military intelligence and director of the political security branch.

On June 29, the Treasury named the four major branches of Syria’s security forces and said any assets that may have been subject to U.S. jurisdiction would be frozen. The Treasury named Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam and Ahmad-Reza Radan, for aiding Syria. The Treasury expanded sanctions against Assad’s government Aug. 10, adding the Commercial Bank of Syria, a Syrian state-owned institution and its Lebanon-based subsidiary, Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, to a blacklist of companies slapped with asset freezes. The Treasury also designated Syriatel under a separate presidential order.

On Aug. 18, the U.S. implemented new sanctions including a freeze on all Syrian assets in the United States or held under U.S. jurisdiction. The sanctions also bar U.S. citizens from making new investments in or exporting services to Syria as well as banning U.S. imports of Syrian petroleum products. More companies were added to the blacklist including SYTROL and the Syrian Petroleum Company.

On Dec 1 the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Mohammad Makhlouf, an uncle of Assad, and Aus Asla a general in the military. It also named the Military Housing Establishment as a government-controlled company that finances the regime and Real Estate Bank.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Dec-03/155890-list-of-international-sanctions-against-syria.ashx?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz1fQMdrHGp
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)