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US, France Sanction Entities Tied to Syrian Chemical Weapons

by Arya Hodjat

   The United States and France have imposed sanctions upon groups and
   individuals with links to Syria's chemical weapons program, the U.S.
   Treasury Department said Wednesday.

   "Syria's horrific use of chemical weapons, including attacks against
   innocent women and children, remains deeply embedded in our minds,"
   said Sigal Mandelker, treasury undersecretary for terrorism, said in a
   statement. "Today, we are continuing our campaign to stop the Assad
   regime's ruthless attacks by targeting the procurement networks that
   have supported its chemical weapons program."

   According to the statement, the United States will block five entities
   and eight individuals who have been part of a network supplying
   electronics to Syria's chemical weapons program.

   On Sunday, France froze the assets of 24 individuals in the same
   network, the statement read.

   One entity that Treasury sanctioned is Electronics Katrangi Trading, a
   Lebanese electronics retailer. Two of the individuals sanctioned by the
   department were former residents of Massachusetts.

   The Syrian government has long received criticism for its alleged use
   of chemical weapons against its own civilians amid the nation's civil
   war. The Syrian government and Russia, its ally, have denied these
   claims.

   In April, over 70 people were killed in a suspected chemical attack in
   the Syrian city of Douma, a rebel-held town. An interim report released
   in July by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an
   intergovernmental chemical weapons watchdog, found "explosive residues
   [and] various chlorinated organic chemicals" on the site.

   As a response to the April attacks, the U.S., French and British
   governments launched a missile strike on suspected chemical weapon
   sites in Syria.

   "If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States
   is locked and loaded," Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United
   Nations, said in April.