NOVANEWS
The Obama administration is drafting an executive order to freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials and bar them from engaging in any business dealings with the United States, says a Wall Street Journal report.
Haaretz
The Obama administration may level sanctions against Syria as punishment for President Bashar Assad’s government’s violent crackdown on protesters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The U.S. is currently drafting an executive order that will empower President Obama to freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials and bar them from engaging in any business dealings with the United States, the report said, citing officials briefed on the matter.
Protestors gather during a demonstration in the Syrian port city of Banias April 22, 2011.
Photo by: Reuters
According to the report, freezing Syrian officials’ assets in the U.S. will have little impact on Assad’s inner circle. However, the hope is that European countries, where Syrian officials have more substantial holdings, will follow suit, thereby having a more crippling economic effect.
Officials reportedly hope that the legal order will be completed by the U.S. Treasury Department in the coming weeks, an indication of a hardening of the United State’s stance toward Syria.
This is a marked divergence from the Obama administration’s initial policy of rapprochement, with the United States sending an ambassador to the Syrian capital of Damascus for the first time in five years this past January.
The U.S. froze ties with the Middle Eastern country in the wake of the assassination of Lebanon Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, which many suspect was Syria’s doing.
Relations with the U.S. deteriorated increasingly with the escalation of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah along the Lebanese border in 2006. The U.S. publically criticized Syria’s political and logistical support of the militant organization.
Earlier this month, WikiLeaks documents published by the Washington Post revealed that the State Department has been secretly financing opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The leaked documents show that the U.S. has provided at least $6 million to Barada TV, a London-based satellite channel that broadcasts anti-government news into Syria, and other opposition groups inside Syria since 2006, the newspaper said.
The Post said it was not clear from the WikiLeaks documents whether the U.S. was still financing Assad’s opponents, though they showed funding had been set aside through September 2010.
The State Department refused to comment on the authenticity of the cables, the Post said.
Syrian activists have been staging protests against Assad’s authoritarian regime for more than a month. Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters.
President Assad lifted the decades-long emergency laws last week, one of the protesters’ key demands, and has attempted to appease dissidents with promises of reforms and a government reshuffle, however protests and crackdowns persist.
Syrian authorities arrested dozens of anti-government activists Sunday, and killed over 100 protesters on Friday in the bloodiest crackdown since uprisings began last month.
The Obama administration may level sanctions against Syria as punishment for President Bashar Assad’s government’s violent crackdown on protesters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The U.S. is currently drafting an executive order that will empower President Obama to freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials and bar them from engaging in any business dealings with the United States, the report said, citing officials briefed on the matter.
|
Protestors gather during a demonstration in the Syrian port city of Banias April 22, 2011. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
According to the report, freezing Syrian officials’ assets in the U.S. will have little impact on Assad’s inner circle. However, the hope is that European countries, where Syrian officials have more substantial holdings, will follow suit, thereby having a more crippling economic effect.
Officials reportedly hope that the legal order will be completed by the U.S. Treasury Department in the coming weeks, an indication of a hardening of the United State’s stance toward Syria.
This is a marked divergence from the Obama administration’s initial policy of rapprochement, with the United States sending an ambassador to the Syrian capital of Damascus for the first time in five years this past January.
The U.S. froze ties with the Middle Eastern country in the wake of the assassination of Lebanon Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, which many suspect was Syria’s doing.
Relations with the U.S. deteriorated increasingly with the escalation of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah along the Lebanese border in 2006. The U.S. publically criticized Syria’s political and logistical support of the militant organization.
Earlier this month, WikiLeaks documents published by the Washington Post revealed that the State Department has been secretly financing opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The leaked documents show that the U.S. has provided at least $6 million to Barada TV, a London-based satellite channel that broadcasts anti-government news into Syria, and other opposition groups inside Syria since 2006, the newspaper said.
The Post said it was not clear from the WikiLeaks documents whether the U.S. was still financing Assad’s opponents, though they showed funding had been set aside through September 2010.
The State Department refused to comment on the authenticity of the cables, the Post said.
Syrian activists have been staging protests against Assad’s authoritarian regime for more than a month. Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters.
President Assad lifted the decades-long emergency laws last week, one of the protesters’ key demands, and has attempted to appease dissidents with promises of reforms and a government reshuffle, however protests and crackdowns persist.
Syrian authorities arrested dozens of anti-government activists Sunday, and killed over 100 protesters on Friday in the bloodiest crackdown since uprisings began last month.
