US sanctions Syrian FM over crackdown on protesters

Washington also freezes US assets of top political adviser and spokeswoman for Assad, and Syria's ambassador to Lebanon.

By REUTERS
Syria's Walid Moallem 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Syria's Walid Moallem 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration froze the US assets of Syria's foreign minister and two other senior officials on Tuesday in response to Syria's increasingly violent crackdown against anti-government protesters.
Along with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, the Treasury Department action targets Bouthaina Shaaban, a top political adviser and spokeswoman for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Syria's ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul Karim Ali.
RELATED:Peace with post-Assad Syria possible, dissident saysOpinion: The case for Israeli intervention in Syria
The move comes as the United States, the European Union and some of Syria's neighbors seek to ratchet up pressure on Assad, who has responded to the demonstrations with lethal military force and detentions.
US President Barack Obama on Aug. 18 called on Assad to leave power.
"We are are bringing additional pressure to bear today directly on three senior Assad regime officials who are principal defenders of the regime's activities," David Cohen, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial Intelligence, said in a statement.
The order freezes assets that the three officials have that are subject to US jurisdiction and generally prohibits US people from engaging in transactions with them.
Treasury's action was the seventh time since April that the US government has imposed sanctions on Syria. Previous rounds have targeted Assad and other top aides; Syria's security forces; and Syrian state-owned banks and the energy sector.
Neither the Syrian leader nor the protesters have shown signs of backing down. Four demonstrators were shot dead in southern Syria on Tuesday after prayers marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, residents and activists said.
Moallem, a former ambassador to Washington, had been widely seen as a moderate within Assad's Cabinet.
Shaaban, one of the few women in prominent positions in the Syrian government, in the past has appeared at Washington events to defend Damascus' viewpoint. Once anti-government protests broke out in the spring, she articulated the Assad government's public response.
Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle East
Click for full Jpost coverage of turmoil in the Middle East