Action Targets Senior Syrian Officials as well as Companies
Supporting the Government of Syria and Linked to Iran’s IRGC-QF and
Hizballah
WASHINGTON – Since
peaceful protests against the Assad regime began more than two years ago, the U.S.
Department of the Treasury has employed a series of new Executive Orders (E.O.)
to sanction and expose those involved in human rights abuses in Syria as well
as senior Syrian government officials. Continuing
these efforts, the Treasury Department today designated four senior officials of
the Syrian government; one airline responsible for transporting weaponry to the
Assad regime; and one privately owned television station for providing services
to the Syrian government – including the
despicable practice of airing forced confessions. To date, the United States has imposed
sanctions on the Government of Syria, including its Central Bank and oil
companies, and more than 100 individuals and entities under a number of our
authorities.
“Treasury will continue to use all of the tools at our
disposal to expose and disrupt the financial networks of those responsible for the
Syrian government’s egregious campaign to suppress its people,” said Under
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. “We are determined to target activity
contributing to the abhorrent humanitarian situation in Syria – whether by
overseeing the Assad government’s indiscriminate killing of civilians, shipping
weapons to the Syrian government, abusing positions of trust to supply intelligence
to the regime, or disseminating the regime’s propaganda.”
Today, the Treasury Department designated four senior
officials of the Syrian government, including the Minister of Defense Fahd Jassem
al-Freij, the Minister of Health Sa’ad Abdel-Salam al-Nayef, the Minister of
Industry Adnan Abdo Al-Sukhni, and the Minister of Justice Najm Hamad al-Ahmad,
pursuant to E.O. 13573, which targets the Syrian regime’s continuing escalation
of violence against the Syrian people. Fahd
Jassem al-Freij was appointed Minister of Defense and Deputy Commander-in-Chief
of the Army and the Armed Forces by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on July
18, 2012, following the death of his predecessor Dawood Rajiha. In August 2012, President Assad appointed
Adnan Abdo Al-Sukhni as Minister of Industry, Najm Hamad Al-Ahmad as Minister
of Justice, and Sa’ad Abdel-Salam al-Nayef as Minister of Health.
Minister of Defense al-Freij is also being designated
pursuant to E.O. 13572 for his role in the commission of human rights abuses in
Syria. During his time as Syrian
Minister of Defense, the Syrian military forces have wantonly and capriciously
killed Syrian civilians, including through the use of summary executions and
indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians.
Some of these airstrikes killed civilians waiting outside of bakeries.
The Treasury Department today also designated the Syrian government-owned
Syrian Arab Airlines, pursuant to our counter-terrorism authority, E.O. 13224, for
acting for or on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force
(IRGC-QF). The IRGC-QF has used Syrian
Arab Airlines cargo flights to transport illicit cargo – including weapons and
ammunition – to Syria. Hizballah, Iran’s
terrorist proxy, helped facilitate these flights for the IRGC-QF. The weapons, suspected to include mortars,
small arms, rockets, and light anti-aircraft guns, have been sent to Syria to
support the Syrian regime’s violent crackdown against its own people. Syrian Arab Airlines is also being
identified as part of the Government of Syria pursuant to E.O. 13582, which blocks
the property of the Syrian government.
Finally, today’s action targets Al-Dunya Television, a
privately owned 24-hour, satellite channel that began transmission in March
2007. Al-Dunya Television is being
designated pursuant to E.O. 13582 for its links to the Government of
Syria. Correspondents of Al-Dunya and
official Syrian television allegedly conducted interviews that were not
broadcast, but were delivered to Syrian intelligence personnel who used them to
arrest interviewees who refuted the reports of Syrian authorities. After ransacking and storming farms in
Harasta, Syria, Syrian government forces planted weapons and ammunition and
brought in an Al-Dunya crew to falsely portray the location as a weapons
depot. Correspondents from Al-Dunya and
Syrian television accompanied Syrian military intelligence units to interview
detainees. The detainees were
interviewed after being tortured and threatened with death to force them to say
what the Government of Syria wanted.
U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any
transactions with the individuals and entities designated today, and any assets
of those designees subject to U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.
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