U.S. Sanctions Syrian Defense Minister Over Idlib Assault
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on
Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub for his role in preventing a
ceasefire in northern Syria, resulting in a humanitarian crisis.
Ayoub’s “deliberate actions since December 2019” led to about
a million people being displaced, putting them in desperate need of
humanitarian aid amid a cold winter in Idlib, the State Department said.
Idlib is the last rebel-held holdout in Syria, as the
country’s civil war enters its 10th year. An assault on Idlib launched last
year by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with help from Iran and Russia, has
paused in recent days following an agreement between Russia and Turkey. The
bombardments have destroyed schools and hospitals and killed civilians,
including medical professionals and first responders risking their lives to
save others, according to the U.S.
“We continue to call for an immediate end to the slaughter
and a political solution to the Syria conflict,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Some Syrians have raced back to the Idlib area to salvage
their remaining belongings, and those civilians who stayed live in constant
fear, according to media reports.
Ayoub, appointed Jan. 1, 2018, as the defense minister, was
previously chief of staff of the Syrian army. He was designated in 2011 by the
European Union. The U.S. took its action under an executive order signed in
October 2019.
Separately on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department
announced a series of delistings, including of companies and individuals
sanctioned for their involvement with, or facilitation of, the Syrian
government.
A Treasury spokeswoman said in an email to Kharon that the
department removes hundreds of individuals and entities from the sanctions
lists that “for various reasons” no longer meet criteria for designation. “The
goal of sanctions is to bring about a positive change in behavior,” she said.
Among those delisted were companies formerly controlled and
managed by Swiss national Halis Bektas. Bektas and his companies, Bluemarine SA
and Skirron Holding SA, were designated in 2014 for facilitating deceptive
transactions on behalf of the Syrian government. Both companies were liquidated
in 2017, according to a review of the Swiss corporate registry.
Russian national Arkadiy Mikhailovich Vainshteinwas also
delisted; he had been sanctioned in December 2016. According to a Russian media
report, Vainshtein is no longer an owner or a member of the supervisory board
of Moscow-based Tempbank, which was sanctioned in 2014 for facilitating
financial services for and providing millions of dollars in cash to the Syrian
government. The Russian central bank revoked the license of Tempbank in 2017;
Tempbank has been in liquidation since early 2018, according to its tax record.
Ioannis Ioannou, a Cypriot national designated in October
2014 for helping the Syrian government circumvent sanctions, was also delisted
Tuesday. Piruseti Enterprises Ltd, a company of which Ionannou was a director,
has been dissolved since May 2018, according to Cypriot records.
And Interlog DRC, a Democratic Republic of the Congo-based
company sanctioned in 2018 for being affiliated with Israeli businessman Dan
Gertler, was delisted. On an archived page of its website from 2018, Interlog
named several mining companies with which it had worked, including Katanga
Mining Limited, a Switzerland-based firm formerly owned in part by Fleurette
Properties Limited, another Gertler-affiliated firm.
Katanga Mining agreed with Canadian regulators in 2018 to
pay CAD 28.5 million to settle allegations that it had hid the risks associated
with its ties to Gertler from investors.
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