DAMASCUS - The European Union prepared on Wednesday to tighten sanctions against Syria over its repression of anti-regime protests, as long-time Damascus ally Moscow warned against punitive measures.
The move came as Syria accused Qatar of fuelling the crisis by financing and arming rebels, a day after Damascus flatly rejected Doha’s proposal to send in Arab troops to quell the unrest. In Brussels, diplomats said EU foreign ministers are set to slap fresh sanctions on Syria at a meeting on Monday, adding 22 individuals and eight companies to an existing blacklist.
“As long as the repression continues we will step up our restrictive measures,” said one diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. No details were immediately available on the new targets. The EU has already agreed 10 rounds of sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, with some 120 people and companies targeted so far by an EU assets freeze and travel ban. It is also enforcing an arms embargo and a ban on imports of Syrian crude.
The news comes as the Syrian pound hit a record low on Wednesday of 71 to the dollar on the black market, with one observer saying it has been hit by the political crisis, including the repercussions of sanctions. The official rate hovers around 57.5 pounds to the dollar. The EU move would come on the heels of a pledge by US President Barack Obama to redouble efforts to force a change of regime in Syria and as the UN Security Council struggles to agree on a resolution on Damascus’s crackdown on dissent.
China defended the Arab League’s widely criticised observer mission to Syria.
“Since the Arab League observer mission began, the violence in Syria has not completely ended, but the security situation of major areas has improved,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin.
“(This) shows the mission is effective,” he added.
The UN says that of 5,400 killed since protest erupted in March, 400 have lost their lives since the observers arrived.
Moscow and Beijing used their vetoes at the UN Security Council last October to block a Western-drafted resolution that would have threatened Damascus with “targeted measures.”
Syrian state media stepped up its rhetoric against Qatar ahead of a meeting of the Arab League on Saturday and Sunday, which will discuss the future of the observer mission. The Gulf state “can help Syria get out of its crisis ... by stopping its financing of armed (groups) and the trafficking of weapons” to insurgents, government newspaper Tishrin charged. Damascus routinely blames the violence in Syria on “armed groups” and “terrorists” backed by foreign powers pursuing an agenda of regime change. On Tuesday, Syria dismissed the Qatari call for Arab troops to be deployed to halt the bloodshed. The United Nations pledged this week to assist the Arab mission deployed in Syria since last month, saying it would start training the bloc’s observers within days. But the rebel Free Syrian Army has demanded bolder action from the world body, urging it to “act quickly against the regime through Chapter Seven of the UN Charter to maintain peace.” Chapter Seven provides for UN forces to initiate military action, not simply act in self-defence.
Diplomats at the United Nations said experts from the 15 members of the Security Council held prolonged talks Tuesday on a proposed Russian resolution on Syria without getting closer to UN action on the bloodshed. “There were more than four hours of talks but they only touched on the preparatory paragraphs,” one Western diplomat said.
Western governments oppose the Russian text, which they say wrongly equates security force violence with what they say is far less frequent armed action by the opposition.
After White House talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama described the regime’s crackdown as “unacceptable” and vowed to redouble efforts to secure a change of government.
In fresh violence on Wednesday, security forces and pro-regime militias killed two civilians in Idlib province, and a soldier died during clashes with army defectors in the same region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In other developments, Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood has rejected an Iranian proposal to play a leading role in Syria’s government in exchange for Assad staying in power, one of its leaders told the Al-Hayat newspaper.
And British Prime Minister David Cameron said there was “growing evidence” that Iran was supplying weapons to Syria, with the Tehran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah channelling some of the arms.