Swiss cabinet adds jet fuel ban to Syria sanctions

The Swiss cabinet has added a ban on the sale of jet fuel and fuel additives to the list of sanctions against the Syrian government.

 

The new measure, which took effect on Wednesday, is intended to prevent Syria’s air force from being resupplied – either directly or indirectly – through Switzerland.

It bars suppliers from selling, exporting or transporting jet fuel and fuel additives to Syria. It also prohibits, in connection with the jet fuel ban, lending use of brokerage services, financing or insurance and reinsurance products.

But the Swiss government is making some exemptions for airlines that conduct evacuations or flights that provide humanitarian aid, according to a statement from the economics ministry.

Sanctions against Syria were first approved in May 2011 to reinforce similar measures taken by the European Union, and have been modified several times since then to reflect the worsening civil war and to coordinate with EU decisions.

The nearly four-year-old conflict in Syria has claimed more than 220,000 lives, according to United Nations estimates, and the Syrian air force has been increasing airstrikes against opposition strongholds in recent days to try to wear down those fighting to remove President Bashar Assad.

The government-led airstrikes across Syria also include hundreds of barrel-bomb attacks, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents the civil war using field-based activists.

 

 

swissinfo.ch