Reply #69: U.S. slaps sanctions on top Syrian officials

[tabatha]

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 29, 2011 -- Updated 1923 GMT (0323 HKT)

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government announced Friday that it has imposed new sanctions against top members of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad responsible for overseeing the recent violent crackdown against protesters.

The sanctions -- imposed on Assad's brother, among others -- involve an asset freeze and travel ban, as well as a prohibition on doing business in the United States.

"I have determined that the Government of Syria's human rights abuses, including those related to the repression of the people in Syria ... constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," President Barack Obama said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Assad's increasingly bloody crackdown resulted in at least another 22 deaths Friday, witnesses said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/04/29/syria.sanctions/index.html?eref=edition