President Obama Announces Further Sanctions against Current Syrian Regime

• By: Staff Editor
• Date: September 01, 2011

In an Executive Order (no. 13572) issued on August 18, 2011, President Barack Obama detailed further sanctions that have been issued against the Syrian regime led by President Bashar el Assad.

President Obama, in his memorandum to Congress, stated that these additional steps were taken as he had

“found that the actions of the Government of Syria constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.”

An earlier Executive Order, 13338, issued in May 2004, blocked the property of certain persons and imposed additional prohibitions on certain transactions with respect to Syria.

The newest order freezes Syrian government assets in the US and blacklists the following five Syrian energy companies:

• General Petroleum Corporation
• Syrian Company for Oil Transport
• Syrian Gas Company
• Syrian Petroleum Company
• Sytrol

The order also prohibits

• New investment in Syria by US citizens wherever they may be located
• Exportation, re-exportation, sale, or supply, directly or indirectly, from the United States, or by US citizens, wherever they may be located, of any services to Syria
• Importation into the United States of petroleum or petroleum products of Syrian origin
• Any transaction or deals involving Syrian petroleum or petroleum products by US citizens, wherever they may be located. These transactions include:
  • Purchasing,
  • Selling,
  • Transporting,
  • Swapping,
  • Brokering,
  • Approving,
  • Financing,
  • Facilitating,
  • Guaranteeing
• US citizens are also prohibited from providing approval, financing, facilitation, or guarantees for transactions carried out by foreign persons that involve Syrian petroleum and petroleum products

Impact

While US companies have almost no involvement in the Syrian energy sector, the EU has a bigger presence. The US sanctions have given the EU further impetus to issue its own oil embargo against Syria, expected to be issued in early September.