Congress moved this week to tighten the economic noose on the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, passing new sanctions that directly target his military alliance with Russia and Iran that has resulted in scores of civilian casualties.
The new sanctions on Assad seek to "halt the wholesale slaughter of the Syrian people" by hitting the regime's financial and military alliances with Russia and Iran, both of which have provided Assad and his allies with military hardware and manpower, according to a copy of the bill viewed by the
Free Beacon.
The legislation is said to be the direct result of an anti-Assad activist who smuggled more than 50,000 photos from the country exposing a cadre of war crimes, including the torture and execution of Syrian citizens and activists. The photographs played a key role is exposing to the world the Assad regime's actions at a time when little news was making its way out of the country.
The new sanctions bolster and compliment current laws on the books by hitting any business or country that provides Syria with financial resources, according to the legislation, which passed a key legislative hurdle on Wednesday when it was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sanctions also could be applied to anyone who works with Syrian intelligence and security services, as well as the Central Bank of Syria.
Additional authorities in the sanctions directly hit the Assad regime’s close relationship with Iran and Russia. Under the new legislation, anyone who sells aircraft to the Assad regime and its foreign operatives for military purposes can be slapped with sanctions.
More at:
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/congress-tightens-noose-assad-regime/