United States froze the assets of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and six other officials.
The step was taken to pressurise the government to end its crackdown on protesters. Property in US or interests in property belonging to al-Assad and the officials will be frozen, according to US Treasury Department. The other officials include Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara, Prime Minister Adel Safar, Interior Minister Mohamad Ibrahim al-Shaar and Defense Minister Ali Habib Mahmoud.
