Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
, several ministers and telecom magnate Rami Makhlouf are on a list of 17 senior figures to be targeted by Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
sanctions, officials said Thursday.
Under the economic measures agreed this week by the 22-member organization, they would be banned from travelling in the region and have any assets in Arab countries frozen, if the list is confirmed at a meeting on Saturday.
Ministers from Qatar, Egypt, Algeria, Oman and Sudan are to meet in Doha on Saturday. Other countries have been invited, but Iraq has already said it will boycott the vaporous Arab League measures.
The list comprises Maher Assad, the brother of the president, his cousin Makhlouf, as well as Defense Minister General Daood Rajha, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar and other military and intelligence figures.
In an unprecedented move, the pan-Arab bloc on Sunday approved a raft of sanctions against Syria to pressure Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
to end its deadly crackdown against an uprising.
The sanctions also include freezing government assets, suspending cooperation with Syria's central bank and halting funding for projects in the country.
In its most recent toll issued early in November, the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
estimated that more than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence that has shaken Syria since mid-March.