WASHINGTON: The US government imposed “sweeping sanctions” on Syrian officials in response to what the US says was a sarin gas attack on civilians earlier this month, the Treasury Department announced on Monday. The Treasury ordered a freeze on all assets in the US belonging to 271 employees of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC), and blocked any American person or business from dealing with them.

The SSRC was responsible for producing the chemical weapons Was­hington believes were used in the attack and the means to deliver them, the statement said. A suspected chemical attack left 87 dead, including many children, in rebel-held territory in Idlib province on April 4, with the West accusing Assad of being responsible.

“These sweeping sanctions target the scientific support centre for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s horrific chemical weapons attack on innocent civilian men, women, and children,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. “The US is sending a strong message with this action that we will hold the entire Assad regime accountable for these blatant human rights violations in order to deter the spread of these types of barbaric chemical weapons.”

Treasury already had imposed sanctions against 18 Syrian officials in Jan, and Mnuchin said the administration “will relentlessly pursue and shut down the financial networks of all individuals involved with the production of chemical weapons used to commit these atrocities”.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017