US Extends Anti-Syria Sanctions Adding 13 Entities, 3 Individuals - Treasury

Last month, Russia and Syria urged the United States to lift economic sanctions against Syria, noting that the restrictions do not promote a solution to the country's humanitarian and socioeconomic problems.

Washington has issued fresh Syria-related sanctions targeting 13 enterprises and 3 individuals, according to the US Treasury's website.

Samer Foz was designated along with Husen Foz, Amer Foz and 13 businesses in Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, the Treasury said in a notice.

"Samer Foz, his relatives, and his business empire have leveraged the atrocities of the Syrian conflict into a profit-generating enterprise," Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said in the release.

This follows the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee's decision made in May to impose new restrictions on the Syrian government, its supporters and those who fund the country’s aircraft and energy industries. Damascus in association with Moscow, later called on Washington and Brussels to lift economic sanctions against Syria, stressing that the restrictions complicated acquisition of medical products and raw materials for producing medical products.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with forces backing the country's leader, President Assad, fighting numerous opposition groups backed by Western states, as well as militants and terrorist organisations.

The United States and its allies have been conducting military operations in Syria and neighbouring Iraq since 2014. The actions of the US-led coalition actions in Syria have never been authorised by Damascus or the UN Security Council.