Canada expands sanctions on Syria

OTTAWA – Canada said Saturday it had expanded sanctions on Syria, including blacklisting a commercial bank and a mobile phone provider, to protest the government’s brutal crackdown on protests.

The new sanctions include travel bans on four officials, including Mohammed Mufleh, head of military security in the flashpoint city of Hama, and Mohammed Makhlouf, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad.

Canada will also freeze the assets of the state-run Commercial Bank of Syria, the country’s largest commercial bank, and Syriatel, its largest mobile phone company.

The United States imposed sanctions on the two firms earlier in the week, and has joined European allies in sanctioning top officials close to Assad.

“Canada reiterates its strong condemnation of the ongoing violent military assault by the Assad regime against the Syrian people,” Foreign Minister John Baird said in a statement.

“The Assad regime has lost all legitimacy by killing Syrian men, women and children to stay in power. This campaign of terror must stop.”

Canada has faced calls from activists for it to sanction Syria’s oil and gas industry, a key source of revenues for Damascus.

Canadian energy firm Suncor, which halted operations in Libya following the uprising against Moamer Kadhafi, has continued operations in Syria, where it is producing oil and gas in partnership with a state-owned firm.