Sanctions slammed on Syria’s Assad

US President Barack Obama yester­day sanctioned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and six top aides over their crackdown on popular protests, telling Mr Assad to launch a transition to democracy or step down. Mr Obama signed the executive order to...

US President Barack Obama yester­day sanctioned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and six top aides over their crackdown on popular protests, telling Mr Assad to launch a transition to democracy or step down.

Mr Obama signed the executive order to “increase pressure on the government of Syria to end its use of violence and begin transitioning to a democratic system that ensures the universal rights of the Syrian people”, the document said.

The order targets, among others, Vice President Faruq al-Shara, Prime Minister Adel Safar and Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.