The Arab League put Syrian VIPs on a travel ban list Thursday and European Union foreign ministers readied a raft of economic sanctions against President Bashar Al-Assad to press to stop a military crackdown on popular protests. Bloodshed went on in Syria, with six people killed and five critically wounded during an army sweep into the restive town of Al-Trimsa in Hama province Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. An Arab League committee convening in Cairo listed 17 Syrian VIPs banned from travel to Arab states, including Assad's brother Maher who commands the military's elite Republican Guard and is Syria's second most powerful man. President Assad himself was not on the draft blacklist. The Egyptian state news agency said the list, part of a sanctions policy adopted at the weekend by 19 of the League's 22 members, includes the defense and interior ministers, intelligence officials and senior military officers. The names and other recommendations will be presented to group of Arab ministers, led by Qatar, who have been handling the Syria file. The ministers meet in Doha on Saturday, the agency reported. The League's committee charged with overseeing sanctions also recommended stopping flights to and from Syria starting in mid-December. But it said sales of wheat, medicine, gas and electricity should be exempted from the embargo. The sanctions package was due to be finalized by Saturday. The Arab League has also suspended Syria's membership. In Brussels, foreign ministers of the 27-member EU were set to announce a new round of sanctions, adding people and firms to a list of targets already chosen and blacklisting the Syrian state oil company General Petroleum Corporation (GPC). Manwhile, Kuwait became the latest country to appeal to its nationals to leave Syria and refrain from traveling there because of safety concerns. “The foreign ministry calls on citizens currently present in Syria to leave for their own safety,” it said in a statement quoted by KUNA news agency.
