US and Canada up sanctions against Syrian regime

Canada closed its embassy in Syria and announced sanctions against the Syrian central bank on Monday, while the US announced that new sanctions would be placed on Syrian TV and radio.

Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird said Canada is suspending all of its financial ties with Damascus until the regime changes, including sanctioning the central Syrian bank. “Our message is clear: Assad must go,” he said.

Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman Chris Day said the country has pulled its people out of Syria and that the embassy and consulate are closed.

Britain, the United States and France also have closed their embassies in Syria. Canada has been advising its citizens to leave for some time.

Also on Monday, the US announced it would impose sanctions on the central Syrian TV and radio stations.

The Treasury Department’s sanctions chief Adam Szubin said the Syrian General Organization of Radio and TV “served as an arm of the Syrian regime as it mounts increasingly barbaric attacks on its own population and seeks both to mask and legitimize its violence.”

He said the US stands with the Syrian people, and that any institutions supporting the Assad government’s “abhorrent behavior will be targeted and cut off from the international financial system.”