UK sanctions six allies of Syrian President

LONDON - Britain on Monday announced sanctions on six allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including his foreign minister and close advisers.

"The Assad regime has subjected the Syrian people to a decade of brutality for the temerity of demanding peaceful reform," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

The announcement came on the 10th anniversary of the start of the Syrian uprising. The six sanctioned individuals include Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad, presidential adviser Luna al-Shibl, and two military generals who Britain said were responsible for the violent repression of civilians by troops under their command.

The Foreign Office said they also include two prominent businessmen, one of whom, Yassar Ibrahim, allegedly “acts as a front" for the “personal hold on the Syrian economy” wielded by Assad and his wife, Asma, while millions of Syrians go without food.

“Today we are holding six more individuals from the regime to account for their wholesale assault on the very citizens they should be protecting,” Raab said in a statement.

The sanctions were the first against the Syrian leadership under Britain’s new autonomous sanctions regime after Brexit.