EU Announces New Syria Sanctions

Imposes Travel Bans, Asset Freezes on Several New Syrians

The European Union has announced a new round of sanctions aimed at punishing Syria in the ongoing civil war, blacklisting two companies related to the regime and imposing travel bans on 28 Syrians.

The new sanctions are aimed at damaging Syrian exports, but in practice probably don’t do much, as the Syrian economy has already ground to a virtual halt because of the fighting, particularly with the industrial center of the city, Aleppo, a warzone.

And as with all sanctions the indication is that they are hurting civilians more than the government, with Syrian officials saying that the trade bans had caused cooking gas shortages, but not huge losses for government ministries.

Though the EU measure also included a warning “against further militarization of the conflict” it only explicitly banned EU citizens from aiding the regime, and not from providing aid to the rebel factions.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.