President Donald Trump's administration issued sanctions Monday on 271 people linked to the Syrian agency responsible for producing nonconventional weapons, part of an ongoing USA crackdown on what it says was Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons.
The United States also fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield on April 7 in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack.
The U.S. Treasury said the Syrian agency, described as a medical and agricultural study center by the regime, was responsible for developing and producing "non-conventional weapons and the means to deliver them".
Eighteen Syrian officials and five branches of the country's military were targeted by USA sanctions in January after a United Nations report concluded that Assad was also behind at least three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015.
Mr Assad has said the attack was a "fabrication" by the West. The 271 either have scientific expertise for the program or have been involved in it since 2012, the statement said. USA military responded by carrying out an attack on a Syrian military airfield with 59 Tomahawk missiles.
Katherine Bauer of the Washington Institute, a former Treasury Department official, said the sanctions send a message that the regime of Bashar al Assad is beyond rehabilitation.
"We want a transparent, neutral group of experts from all countries to come to Syria and to see for themselves", he said. The Treasury Department prohibited any U.S. individual or company from dealing with those employees.
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But Russia blocked the passage of the resolution in the United Nations Security Council.
The Treasury Department blacklisted 18 Syrians in January after an investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the worldwide body that polices chemical weapons, determined that the government had been responsible for three chlorine gas attacks.
Those designated were "highly educated" individuals likely to be able to travel outside of Syria and use the worldwide financial system even if they may not have assets overseas, administration officials said during a conference call with reporters.
"It was the seventh time that Russia, Syria's top military ally, has used its veto power to shield the Damascus regime", AFP reported.
The sanctions were welcomed by the British government, saying they were a clear signal "that actions have consequences".
Syria agreed in a 2013 deal brokered by Russian Federation to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal and get rid of material that could be used to resume the manufacture of such weapons.
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