Brussels, 11/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - During the night of Tuesday 10 to Wednesday 11 May, the European Parliament (EP) Facebook page was the target of a cyber-attack by supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after the EU had just approved sanctions against 13 of his close associates. Confirmation of the attack, AFP writes, was given by an EP spokesman. The attack had no effect on Parliament servers in Strasbourg. “We are investigating what happened since it would appear that similar attacks have been experienced by other institutions, such as the White House, suggesting a coordinated operation”, says the EP multimedia department on its Facebook page.
On Tuesday, the European Union published a list of 13 Syrian figures considered to be responsible for the brutal repression of demonstrations. At the head of this list is the younger brother of President Bashar al-Assad, Maher, who heads the Republican Guard. On Wednesday, the chief of the European diplomatic corps, Catherine Ashton, said she was considering revising sanctions against the Syrian regime. (Gp/transl.rt)