Brussels, 23/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - With publication of their names in the Official Journal of the European Union, the EU officially took out sanctions on three new people and nine entities on 23 July for their involvement “in the violent repression of the civilian population or their support to the regime”.
The businessman Hashim Anwar al Aqqad, Chairman of the Akkad group of companies - which operates in multiple sectors of the Syrian economy, including oil and gas, and which provides support to the Syrian regime - is now subject to an assets freeze and visa ban. “Responsible for violent repression of the civilian population”, the military commander for the Syrian regime, Colonel Suhayl Hasan, has also been made subject to sanctions - as has Amr Armanazi, Director General of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC), which supports the Syrian army in the acquisition of equipment used directly for the surveillance and repression of demonstrators hostile to the regime.
The following entities providing support to the Syrian regime are also now targeted by EU sanctions: the National Standards & Calibration Laboratory and the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology (HISAT) - subsidiaries of the already sanctioned SSRC - which provide “training and support to the SSRC” and are “therefore responsible for the violent repression of the civilian population”; Oceans Petroleum Trading and Tri Oceans Trading which provide support to the Syrian regime and benefit from the regime by organising covert shipments of oil to the Syrian regime; the Al Jazerra company, active in the hydrocarbons sector, owned or controlled by Ayman Jaber (who has himself already been listed); the Homs Refinery Company and the Baniyas Refinery Company - subsidiaries of the General Corporation for Refining and Distribution of Petroleum Products (GCRDPP) - which depend of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; the Industrial Establishment of Defence and the Army Supply Bureau, involved in the procurement of military equipment in support of the regime, and therefore “responsible for the violent repression of the civilian population in Syria”.
With these new people and entities, 192 people and 62 entities are now subject to restrictions in connection with the Syrian crisis. (CG)