The European Council has added four recently appointed ministers of the cabinet of Syria in the wake of its announcement, to its list of targeted EU restrictive measures. The new cabinet was formed by PM Hussein Arnous.
EU’s Syria sanctions have been in effect since 2011, and they target political names as well as companies and business persons with links to the regime and the war economy. The measures include a ban on oil, investments, asset freezes and import bans on technology.
The sanctioned names are Amr Salem (Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection); Boutros AL-HALLAQ (Minister of information); Mohammad SEIFEDDINE (Minister of Labour and Social Affairs); and Diala Barakat (Minister of State). All reported to be sharing responsibility for the regime’s violent repression of the civilian population. The ministers were appointed under the Hussein Arnous cabinet formed in August, following the presidential elections.
After a decade of bloody civil conflict, Syrian autocrat Assad had recently started showing up in the international area seeking new legitimacy to his rule.
With the recent additions, the EU list of sanctioned persons and entities in Syria swells to 287 people and 70 entities targeted by travel ban and asset freeze.
