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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria condemns US sanctions on Assad |
| 2011-05-20 |
| [Al Jazeera] Syria has condemned the imposition of sanctions on its president by the United States as being "part of a regional scheme, aimed primarily at serving Israel's interests", state media reports. The Syrian government said that the sanctions "have not and will not" affect any of its decisions, nor would it affect Syria's stand on regional and international politics, the SANA news agency reported on Thursday. The United States imposed sanctions a day earlier on Bashir al-Assad, the Syrian president, and six bigwigs, citing alleged human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... abuses committed during a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests across the country. Syria has termed the move an attempt to "prolong the crisis in Syria" on the part of the United States. "The US measures are part of a series of sanctions imposed by successive US administrations against the Syrian people as part of a regional scheme, aimed primarily at serving Israel's interests," SANA said. The White House announced the sanctions on Wednesday, a day before Barack B.O.Obama, the US president, was to deliver a major speech on the uprisings throughout the Arab world. The sanctions are part of "an effort to increase pressure on the government of Syria to end its violence against its people and begin transitioning to a democratic system", a US official told the AFP news agency on the condition of anonymity. In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama said he issued the new sanctions order as a response to the Syrian government's "continuous escalation of violence against the people of Syria". Obama cited "attacks on protesters, arrests and harassment of protesters and political activists, and repression of democratic change, overseen and executed by numerous elements of the Syrian government". The sanctions will freeze any assets Assad and the six Syrian government officials have in US jurisdiction and make it illegal for Americans to do business with them. The six officials are: vice-president Faruq al-Shara, prime minister Adel Safar, interior minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar, defence minister Ali Habib Mahmud, military intelligence chief Abdul Fatah Qudsiya and director of the political security directorate, Mohammed Dib Zaitoun. Syrian rights activists say at least 700 civilians have been killed in two months of festivities between government forces and protesters seeking an end to his 11-year rule. |
| Posted by:Fred |