Secretary of the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) political committee, Abdul Majid Barakat, welcomed Britain’s decision to sanction individuals and entities that support the Assad regime or have recruited mercenaries and sent them to fight alongside the Russian forces in Ukraine.
Barakat stressed that the Syrian people expect more Western sanctions against all the regime’s allies and partners in its crimes. He also stressed the need to achieve the goal for which the sanctions were imposed, namely changing the behavior of regime as key to ensuring the implementation of UN resolutions and achieving a real political transition.
The British government on Tuesday said that the sanctions, which were part of broader sanctions announced by the British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, targeted nine individuals in Syria, most of whom are military commanders, and two security companies.
The British sanctions targeted Commander-in-Chief of the Palestine Liberation Army, Akram al-Salti, Commanders of the National Defense Forces in the towns of Suqaylabiyah and Mahardah in Hama province Nabel al-Abdullah and Simon al-Wakeel, a former officer in the regime forces, and a leader in the al-Uhda al-Omariya Abu Hani Shammout, Commander of the 16th Brigade of the Russian forces command in Syria Brigadier General Saleh al-Abdullah, and the owner and Chairman of the Cham Wings Airlines Muhammad Essam Shammout.
The statement indicated that the sanctions also targeted the private security companies Al-Sayyad and Sanad, in addition to the CEO of the Al-Sayyad company, Fawaz Mikhail Gerges, the Director of the Sanad company, Ahmed Khalil Khalil, and his partner Nasser Deeb.
Britain had previously imposed sanctions on six senior Assad regime’s officials. The US Treasury also imposed sanctions on eight individuals and ten entities supporting the Assad regime, while the European Union announced on July 21 the inclusion of ten Syrian individuals to the sanctions list, most of whom military commanders, and two private companies for recruiting mercenaries from Syria to fight in Ukraine and Libya.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
