UK sanctions allies of Syrian President Assad, including foreign minister

Syria's Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad. (File: Reuters)

Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign affairs Dominic Raab leaves Downing Street in London, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain May 11, 2020. (Reuters)

LONDON: Britain on Monday announced sanctions on six allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including his foreign minister and close advisers.
The Syrian civil war is 10 years old: In mid-March, 2011, peaceful pro-democracy protests developed into a multi-sided conflict that sucked in world powers, killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more.
"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.
"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.
Those sanctioned include Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad, Assad adviser Luna al-Shibl, financier Yassar Ibrahim, businessman Muhammad Bara’ Al-Qatirji, Republican Guard commander Malik Aliaa and Army Major Zaid Salah.