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OFAC Sanctions Syrian Bank, Tightening Measures Targeting Assad Regime
By Brian Monroe
printU.S. financial institutions must freeze any account and block any payment linked to the Syria Islamic International Bank (SIIB), the U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday. The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Damascus-based financial institution for acting on behalf of the Commercial Bank of Syria-the country's largest bank-and providing services to its Beirut-based subsidiary, Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank. OFAC designated both banks in August for their alleged links to North Korean weapons proliferators as well as their ties to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of massacring tens of thousands of Syrian citizens...
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