Sanctions choke Assad regime

The Arab League put Syrian VIPs on a travel ban list on Thursday and the European Union tightened economic sanctions on Syria as civilian opposition and army rebels agreed to team up against the regime. As the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least eight more civilians killed Thursday in the troubled provinces of Hama and Homs, UN rights chief Navi Pillay said the death toll since the protests broke out in mid-March was at least 4,000 and probably many more. "We are placing the figure at 4,000, but really the reliable information coming to us is that it is much more than that," Pillay told a news conference in Geneva. "I have said that as soon as there were more and more defectors threatening to take up arms, I said this in August before the Security Council, there was going to be a civil war. At the moment that's how I am characterizing this," she said. An Arab League committee convening in Cairo listed 17 Syrian VIPs banned from travel to Arab states, including Assad's brother Maher who commands the military's elite Republican Guard and is Syria's second most powerful man. President Assad himself was not on the draft blacklist. The Egyptian state news agency said the list, part of a sanctions policy adopted at the weekend by 19 of the League's 22 members, includes the defense and interior ministers, intelligence officials and senior military officers. Iraq and Lebanon, neighbors of Syria who have sensitive sectarian, strategic and trade relationships with Damascus, declined to join the League's sanctions campaign. The League's committee charged with overseeing sanctions also recommended stopping flights to and from Syria starting in mid-December. But it said sales of wheat, medicine, gas and electricity should be exempted from the embargo. Despite the Lebanese government's support for the Assad regime, Lebanese banks have adopted strict measures to ensure compliance with international sanctions against Syria and are closely scrutinizing transactions by Syrian clients. "Banks are running away from anything that has to do with Syria like it's a disease because the US is closely watching," said one official who works at one of Lebanon's top banks. EU foreign ministers met with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby in Brussels. The EU slapped a 10th round of sanctions on the regime, adding bans on exporting gas and oil industry equipment to Syria and trading Syrian government bonds in an effort to choke off funding. Ministers also agreed to refrain from providing concessional loans to Syria. During lunch with the EU ministers, Elaraby denied Syrian accusations that the League was trying to spark a foreign intervention. Meanwhile, the Syrian National Council, a civilian opposition group, said it has agreed to coordinate with the rebel Free Syrian Army in their common struggle against Assad. This signifies a change of tack from the civilian opposition's previous reluctance to back the armed struggle.