EU adds one more Syrian entity to asset freeze

The European Union on Thursday expanded its sanctions on the Syrian government by adding one more of its entity to asset freeze, said the EU in a statement. "Our measures are not aimed at the Syrian people, but aim to deprive the regime of financial revenues and the support base necessary to maintain the repression," said the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The statement didn't disclose the nature of the entity, saying that the legal act, together with the details about the entity, will be published in the Official Journal of the EU on Friday. Some diplomats said the newly added entity on the sanction list is the Commercial Bank of Syria The move has brought the number of Syrian entities targeted by an EU asset freeze to 19. Syria has been wracked by six-month-old unrest it blames on foreign conspiracy and foreign thugs because of Damascus' support for anti-Israeli groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem has recently put the number of army officers and law-enforcement troops killed since the eruption of protests in Syria in mid March at 1,110, while a recent UN tally put the number of civilians and security forces who were killed during the crisis at nearly 2,900.