U.S. slaps sanctions on 18 Syrian officials over use of chemical weapon

The United States on Thursday announced sanctions on 18 senior Syrian officials in connection to Syrian government's use of chemical weapons.

As a result of the action, any property of the identified persons in the United States must be blocked. Additionally, transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

"The Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against its own people is a heinous act that violates the longstanding global norm against the production and use of chemical weapons," said Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary of Treasury.

"Today's action is a critical part of the international community's effort to hold the Syrian regime accountable for violating the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and UN Security Council Resolution 2118," Szubin added.

The sanctions are imposed based on findings that the Syrian government, specifically the Syrian Arab Air Force, was responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in Talmenes on April 21, 2014, and in Qmenas and Sarmin on March 16, 2015, according to reports issued by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons - United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons," Ned Price, spokesperson for National Security Council, said in a statement.

"The Asad regime's barbaric continued attacks demonstrate its willingness to defy basic standards of human decency, its international obligations, and longstanding global norms."

On Thursday, the U.S. State Department also imposed sanctions on an entity associated with Syria's weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-capable ballistic missile program.

The Organization for Technological Industries (OTI) was targeted "in an effort to curb the spread of WMD and protect the U.S. financial system from being exploited by proliferators," said a statement issued by the State Department. Endit