Sanctions Live Blog

The AFP reports that a top US treasury department anti-terror official is scheduled to travel to five Middle Eastern nations to discuss sanctions against Syria and Iran:

Daniel Glaser, the assistant secretary for terrorist financing, will visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Israel and the United Arab Emirates during a 10 day visit [starting today].

Glaser will 'highlight the need for governments and financial sectors to remain vigilant against attempts by the Syrian and Iranian regimes to evade multilateral sanctions,' the US treasury department said in a statement.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday gave the US Treasury authority to stop Syria and Iran wriggling out of sanctions by going after foreign firms, banks or individuals that ease their isolation.

The Assad couple's lifestyle is the next  target of EU sanctions on the Syrian regime, with the bloc ready to ban exports of luxury items, diplomats said Friday.

"Sanctions are ready," said an EU diplomat who asked not to be named.

"We will see Monday, depending on the situation on the ground, if European Union foreign ministers decide to adopt them or not" at talks in Luxembourg.

This 14th round of EU sanctions would concern luxury goods and so-called dual-use goods which can be used for internal repression or for the manufacturing of equipment used for internal repression, a senior EU diplomat said.

By targeting luxury items, the EU is "symbolically" targeting the lifestyle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his British-born wife Asma, said a European diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Assad couple, as well as his inner circle and leaders of the regime must be made to understand that events in Syria will also impact their personal lives," the source told AFP news agency.

The EU a month ago tightened the noose on Assad's family, slapping a travel ban and asset freeze on his wife, mother and sister in the 13th round of EU sanctions in a year.

His immediate family were among 12 people and two oil companies added to an existing EU blacklist totalling 126 people and 41 firms or utilities.

Canada tightened the sanctions Friday on Syria, targeting President Bashar al-Assad's wife, mother, sister and sister-in-law a week after the European Union made a similar move.

The four Assad relatives were among 12 people and two oil companies added to an existing Canadian blacklist now totaling 127 people and 41 entities.

Under Canada's seventh round of Syria sanctions, those cited will be subject to an asset freeze and a prohibition on economic dealings.

John Baird, the country's foreign minister said in a statement:

Canada's position is clear: Assad must go.

"These latest sanctions target in particular those who profit from their association with the regime and those closest to Assad, including his wife Asma.

"Assad's family may be kept shielded from the misery of the average Syrian, but they will not be immune from international will."

A US House of Representatives committee has voted to impose new sanctions on Syria's energy sector and called for referring its president, Bashar al-Assad, to a war crimes tribunal.

The legislation would help bring about Assad's downfall by "tightening the financial noose around Assad's neck - already tied very tight by the Obama Administration," said Representative Howard Berman, a Democrat who co-sponsored it.

The bill must pass the entire House and Senate before President Barack Obama would decide whether to sign it into law. The outlook for passage in the House is good, considering it has bipartisan support; the chief House sponsors are House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democrat Eliot Engel. In the Senate, similar measures have been proposed by a Democrat, Kirsten Gillibrand.

Concerns about impact on energy prices could slow the measure down, as has happened before with similar sanctions legislation aimed at Iran. If sanctions crimped Syrian oil sales, that could further tighten world oil supplies, boosting oil prices.

The Obama administration has already ordered a variety of sanctions on Syria, adding to the pressure on Assad and his government to end a nearly year-long crackdown on protesters.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to impose sanctions on anyone who invests more than $5 million in developing Syria's oil and gas resources, or who spends at least $1 million assisting Syria's refineries.

It would also sanction those who sell or provide to Syria refined petroleum products worth more than $1 million.

The sanctions, including bans on U.S. loans and export licenses and dealings with US financial institutions, would apply to foreign entities as well as the United States.

US citizens have already been prohibited from some transactions with Syria's energy sector. 

[Reuters]