BRUSSELS
Foreign ministers from 28 EU member states have decided to impose fresh sanctions against 16 people in the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and two companies which supply oil to the Syrian government.
The move by the EU Foreign Affairs Council, announced in the Official Journal of the European Union on Tuesday, includes the imposition of a travel ban and the freezing of assets in Europe of members of the group which includes ministers, commanding officers and businessmen as they ''share responsibility for the regime’s violent repression against the civilian population."
The two companies put on the list of sanctions -- Pangates International in the United Arab Emirates and its Damascus-based parent company, Abdulkarim Group -- were included as they were providing oil to the Syrian regime and benefitting it, according to the 28-nation bloc.
The further sanctions came a day after the EU dismissed Assad's re-election in presidential elections in Syria in June 2014 as ''illegitimate'' amid the country's ongoing civil war, and said it would ''undermine the political efforts to find a solution to this horrific conflict."
While the EU has long called for the removal of Assad over the violence and killing of civilians since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, it has focused on fighting the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
- 'Immediate action'
The EU Foreign Affairs Council also said on Monday the bloc was "determined to take immediate and long-term action" to restrict ISIL's sources of funding.
It said: "The EU also plans to enhance its counter-terrorism and security cooperation with countries on Syria's and Iraq's borders, as determined by the union's counter-terrorism strategy."
The EU said it would also continue to provide political and practical support to the "moderate opposition" fighting ISIL.
"International efforts to achieve a Syrian-led transition remain a priority in order to maintain the country's unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, while preserving its multi-ethnic and multi-religious character," the statement added.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, declaring what it calls a cross-border Islamic "caliphate," killing thousands of people and displacing millions in the two countries.
www.aa.com.tr/en
