Saturday

23rd Sep 2023

Syrian leader to face EU sanctions as death toll climbs

  • War-scarred houses in Beirut. The Syrian regime has threatened to provoke regional instability (Photo: Bertil Videt)

EU countries have agreed to impose a visa ban and asset freeze on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused by dissidents of killing more than 1,000 people in recent weeks.

All 27 EU ambassadors in the Political and Security Committee (PSC) - a high-level EU forum for dealing with international crises - on Tuesday (17 May) evening endorsed a list of 10 more names, including the president himself, to be added to a previous sanctions register of 13 regime members.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The PSC also agreed a statement to be rubber-stamped by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday threatening future financial sanctions.

"The EU is determined to take further measures without delay should the Syrian leadership choose not to swiftly change its current path," the draft communique says. The text mentions a block on new European Investment Bank lending to Syria, currently worth €1.3 billion. But the bank is legally obliged to honour existing contracts.

The measures have been tabled as an "a-point" in the Foreign Affairs Council, an agenda item normally agreed automatically at the start of the meeting.

But in an unusual move, the Syria a-point is to be held back until ministers have had a chance to speak out, creating the possibility of a last-minute u-turn.

"It leaves things open for a member state to row back on the PSC agreement," an EU diplomat said. The contact added that the same countries which earlier opposed sanctions on the president - Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain - continued to voice doubts on Tuesday.

"Usually when PSC ambassadors say 'Yes' that means 'Yes.' It happens very rarely that countries say they can't agree to an a-point," another EU diplomatic source noted.

Speaking from Damascus on Wednesday morning, Haytham al-Maleh, an 80-year old Syrian lawyer and human rights activist, told this website that the death toll is far higher than the 700-or-so figure quoted in most reports.

Al-Maleh is in hiding and has been unable to go home for the past four weeks for fear of being arrested.

"Al-Assad has already killed more than 1,000 people - this is what all my contacts tell me. I am collecting information by phone from all over the country," he said.

When informed about the latest EU decision, he added: "It helps us. We need more pressure from the UN, from the EU on the regime ... this is the only way, he [al-Assad] has to go."

For his part, al-Assad's cousin and regime financier Rami Makhlouf in a New York Times interview last week threatened regional "chaos" if al-Assad is pushed too far.

"What I'm saying is don't let us suffer, don't put a lot of pressure on the president, don't push Syria to do anything it is not happy to do ... We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end," he said, in words echoing the rhetoric of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.

Syria has the capacity to cause instability in neigbouring Lebanon and to draw Iran and Israel into a wider conflict, taking the region back into the bloody days of the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s.

US and French diplomats have in off-the-record briefings in Brussels explained that Libya-type intervention in Syria is not an option due to strategic considerations.

Jailed Danish rights defender in Bahrain on hunger strike

The European Commission says it is advocating for prominent jailed Bahraini-Danish human rights defender, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja. But Human Rights Watch says the EU's diplomatic pressure has failed to secure his release.

EU’s €500m gender violence plan falls short, say auditors

The 'Spotlight Initiative' was launched in 2017 with a budget of €500 million to end all forms of violence or harmful practices against women and girls in partner countries, but so far it has had "little impact", say EU auditors.

Latest News

  1. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  2. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  3. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power
  4. Here's the headline of every op-ed imploring something to stop
  5. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  6. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  7. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  8. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us