EU IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON LEADER OF DEFENDERS OF DEIR EZZOR, SAYS HE’S LINKED TO CHEMICAL ATTACK IN KHAN SHAYKHUN

Major General Issam Zahreddine (R)

The European Union (EU) has imposed new sanctions on 16 Syrian officers and scientists, blaiming them for the alleged chemical attack that took place in Khan Shaykhun in the Syrian province of Idlib on April 4, 2017.

The sanctions include banning the subjects from entering the EU countries and freezing their bank accounts in European banks.

The sanctions included 8 Syrian scientists and engineers allegedly working in the Syrian Scientific Research Center: Hamad Safwan Qattan, Mohammad Ziad Gharywati, Mohammad Dirar Khaloudi, Dr. Khaled Sawan, Rimon Rizk, Fawaz Al-Ato, Fayez Al-Assi and Dr. Hala Sarhan.

The EU didn’t provide any evidence confirmming their links to the alleged production of chemical weapons in Syria, which stopped in 2013 according to the United States.

The sanctions also included eight high-ranking officers of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA): Brigadier-General Mohammad Yousef Hassouri, Major General Malik Hasan, Major General jayez Hamoud al-Mousa, Major General Mizar Abdul Sawan, and Major General Issam Zahreddine.

Major General Issam Zahreddine is one of the commanders of the Republican Guard. He has been fighting against against the Al-Nusra Front and then ISIS in the city of Deir Ezzor since 2012.

The EU accusation against Gen. Zahreddine is ridiculous. Because this person has nothing to do with the Syrian Arab Air Force or the Syrian Scientific Research Center. Gen. Zahreddine was busy for at least few years defending Deir Ezzor from ISIS.

Since 2011, the EU has imposed sanctions on 255 Syrian citizens and 67 Syrian companies. The EU sanctions have affected the Syrian public services sector, even the health sector directly, which has negatively impacted Syrian citizens throughout Syria. Syria is currently suffering from a crisis in cancer medicine as a result of EU sanctions.

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