Obama Freezes Assets of Assad and Other Syrian Leaders
President Obama extended a freeze on Syrian assets to the country’s government and its entire leadership.
The order issued Wednesday is the most expansive yet targeting Syria, naming President Bashar Assad and including any “senior official of the Government of Syria” or “any agency or instrumentality of the Government of Syria, or owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Government of Syria or by an official or officials of the Government of Syria.”
The order cites “Syria’s continuing escalation of violence against the people of Syria – including through attacks on protestors, arrests and harassment of protestors and political activists, and repression of democratic change, overseen and executed by numerous elements of the Syrian government.”
Previous freezes, launched by President Bush in 2004, targeted only individuals believed to be involved in weapons of mass destruction development and in subterfuge in Lebanon and elsewhere.
The order issued Wednesday has the effect of essentially cutting off Syria from the United States and banning any U.S. business from trading with Syria’s government or its leaders.
Israeli and U.S. officials have said there has been a sea change in attitudes toward Syria since its brutal crackdown launched earlier this month against democracy protestors, and since it helped facilitate a breach by Palestinian protesters of its border with Israeli forces on the Golan Heights.
While both governments reviled the Assad regime in the past, officials have said, it was seen as preferable to the chaos that might ensue should it be overthrown.
Insiders have said that the Israeli and U.S. governments are now shifting gears and will not stand in the way of regime change.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
