Canada levels sanctions against Syrian officials

OTTAWA — Canada has announced sanctions against 27 high-ranking officials in the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement that those people are now subject to an asset freeze and dealings prohibition.

Freeland said adding their names to the sanctions list is part of international pressure on the Assad regime to end indiscriminate violence against its own people, such as this month’s chemical weapons attack, and engage in meaningful negotiations.

This week, Freeland urged Russia, a longtime a supporter of Assad, to break with the Syrian president and help broker his departure in order to establish a lasting peace in the troubled region.

Freeland said the new sanctions against key officials are part of Canada’s continued efforts to pressure the Assad regime to stop the violence against innocent children, women and men.

The statement issued Friday said Canada is contributing to investigations on the use of chemical weapons and the collection of evidence to support the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria. The contribution comes in the form of funding to a United Nations agency that is conducting the probe.

“Last week’s chemical weapons attack in southern Idlib is a war crime and is unacceptable,” she said. “Canada is working with its allies to end the war in Syria and hold those responsible to account.”

Canada has committed $1.6 billion to efforts in the region to provide humanitarian, security, stabilization and development assistance, in addition to having welcomed more than 40,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.

Meanwhile, in Moscow on Friday, Russia, Syria and Iran strongly warned the United States against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international investigation of the chemical weapons attack there that killed nearly 90 people.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts in Moscow, denounced the U.S. missile strikes on Syria as a “flagrant violation” of international law. Additional such actions would entail “grave consequences not only for regional but global security,” Lavrov said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said the meeting sent a “strong message” to Washington. Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized that the participants agreed that unilateral actions by the U.S. were unacceptable.

The U.S. accuses the Syrian government of deliberately launching the deadly chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4.

Russia has alleged that the victims were killed by toxic agents from a rebel chemical arsenal hit by Syrian warplanes.