The European Union is working on another package of sanctions against Syria, a source in the Council of the European Union’s press service said on Tuesday.
EU foreign ministers are expected to approve a new, 17th round of sanctions intended to force the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end the 16 months of bloodshed in the country during their meeting in Brussels on July 23, the source said.
The EU is planning to expand the list of Syrian officials and companies affected by sanctions including travel bans and freezes on their European assets. The new package would also include other economic sanctions against Syria, the source said without specifying.
The blacklist currently consists of 129 Syrian officials and 49 companies. The latest round of EU sanctions was approved on June 25.
The EU move comes as the United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a Western-backed draft resolution on Syria on Wednesday, which calls for an immediate ceasefire in the country and gives the Assad government ten days to comply with a peace plan proposed by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan or face UN action under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.
Chapter 7 allows the council to authorize actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention. Russia, a permanent UN Security Council member which has blocked attempts by Western powers to impose international sanctions on Syria, has threatened to veto the Western draft.
Moscow has proposed its own resolution extending a UN monitoring mission to Syria, which expires on July 20, for another three months. Washington and its allies have refused to support the Russian draft, described as "toothless" by Western diplomats.
The Syrian conflict, which has grown increasingly militarized over the past few months, has already left between 13,000 and 17,000 people dead, according to Syrian rights activists quoted by the United Nations.
Intensive fighting between rebels and government forces in the Syrian capital, Damascus, entered its second day on Tuesday. The Free Syrian Army, a military wing of the Syrian opposition, has announced a full-scale military operation in the capital in response to what the group has described as “massacres and barbaric crimes” committed by government troops.
The rebels have called for the “encirclement of all security, military and shabiha (pro-Assad militia) checkpoints across Syria,” and pledged to “eliminate” Assad troops in “fierce” battles.
The group also said it would target foreign officers in Syria with links to the Assad regime, and called for blocking the roads being used as supply lines for the government.
