Global Arab Network | EU targets Syrian oil firms, says may get tougher

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EU targets Syrian oil firms, says may get tougher

Global Arab Network - - Reda Darwish

Tuesday, 06 September 2011 17:04

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Global Arab Network - The European Union imposed a ban on purchases of Syrian oil on Saturday and warned of further steps unless President Bashar al-Assad's government ends its five-month crackdown on dissent.

The sanctions mark the first time Europe has targeted Syrian industry in a bid to stem the violence, which claimed another four lives on Saturday and has so far killed more than 2,200 people, according to the United Nations.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed after security forces went into the village of Haysh near the second city Aleppo looking for attorney general Adnan Bakkour, who resigned last month in a video posted on YouTube.

Bakkour's resignation, if confirmed, would be the first high-profile defection during the recent uprising.

The authorities instead say Bakkour was kidnapped while traveling to work on an agricultural road to the Justice Palace in Hama.

The Observatory also said another civilian had been killed on Saturday during a morning raid in Syria's third-largest city, Homs, and that the death toll from attacks on protesters on Friday had risen to 21 from 14.

While most of Syria's oil exports have gone to Europe, the EU sanctions agreed on Saturday do not go as far as an investment ban imposed by the United States last month, and analysts say they may have only a limited impact on Assad's access to funds.

EU governments are expected to have talks on further sanctions, but industry experts have said the 27-member bloc will have to overcome reluctance among some capitals, given that European firms like the Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell and France's Total are significant investors in Syria.

At informal EU talks in the Polish resort of Sopot, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and his British counterpart William Hague said more oil sanctions could be needed, but did not say what these might entail.

Global Arab Network

Read More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/03/us-syria-idUSTRE77S5IH20110903

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 September 2011 17:06

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