Canada extends sanctions against Syria as crackdown continues
Posted Aug 14, 2011 07:54:51 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Canada is expanding its sanctions against the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird made the announcement yesterday.
Baird says Canada and other western nations are committed to pressuring Assad’s government to end its bloody crackdown on protesters demanding democratic reforms.
Such commitments, however, have so far done little to stop the bloodshed.
Syrian activists estimate at least 17-hundred civilians have died in the crackdown.
Baird says Ottawa is freezing the assets of additional people and entities linked to Assad.
Additional members of Assad’s government are also being banned from travelling to Canada — but there’s still no move yet to recall Canada’s ambassador to Syria.
The Canadian sanctions are considered largely symbolic, as Canada’s exports to Syria are worth just 60-(m) million dollars a year.
