European Union Extends Sanctions on Syria, Targets 18 Officials

European Union sanctions were extended on Monday, targeting 18 Syrian officials, Reuters reported.

Syria’s central bank chief Duraid Durgham and finance minister Maamoun Hamdan were banned from traveling to Europe and their assets were frozen alongside 16 other government ministers. Last month, the E.U. threatened to increase sanctions on Syria amid the government and allies’ bombing of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

E.U. diplomats said the sanctions targeting Syria’s financial chiefs were an effort to isolate Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and limit his government’s capacity to raise finances. The E.U. already has an oil and arms embargo on Syria, and a ban on dealings with the central bank.

Durgham, the central bank governor, is “responsible for providing economic and financial support to the Syrian regime,” according to E.U. officials. Other ministers targeted in the sanctions are responsible for sectors such as electricity, water, industry and information.

There are now a total of 234 people and 69 companies and institutions subjected to E.U. sanctions for what the 28-nation bloc said was “repression against the civilian population in Syria.”

Food Production at All-time Low in Syria, U.N. Agencies Warn

Food production in Syria has reached an all-time low said U.N. agencies on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

“Food production in Syria has hit a record low due to fighting and insecurity but also weather conditions,” said Bettina Luescher, World Food Program spokesperson at a press conference in Geneva.

The rising cost of seeds, fuel and fertilizers have caused farmers to abandon their lands, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program. Wheat output dropped from 3.4 million metric tons harvested in 2011 to 1.5 million metric tons harvested this year. Livestock has also dropped, with 30 percent fewer cattle, 40 percent fewer sheep and goats and 60 percent less poultry.

Food shortages are especially concerning in besieged areas like eastern Aleppo city, where an estimated 275,000 people still live in opposition-held territories encircled by government forces.

“The last food rations provided by the U.N. have been given out [in east Aleppo]. It is very hard to say how people will be coping there. Of course it is a very different situation than in the capital where food is available at the markets and people can buy things,” Luescher said, adding that at least 7 million people in Syria are “food insecure.”

Rebels Fight Each Other North of Aleppo

Rebel factions fought each other north of Aleppo near the Turkish border on Monday, as government forces advanced in Aleppo city, Reuters reported.

The Levant Front, which fights under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner, fought against factions that also fight under the FSA banner and the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham in the northern city of Azaz.

Levant Front headquarters and checkpoints were seized in the infighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based monitor. The Levant Front withdrew some of its fighters from the front line against the so-called Islamic State for backup.

Turkey, a key backer of rebel groups, shut its border crossing at Oncupinar in response to the fighting, which was taking place 35 miles (56km) north of Aleppo city.

Rebels fighting to oust the government of Bashar al-Assad have been plagued by infighting since the uprising’s earliest days. They are split along ideological lines and by local power ambitions.

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