European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to impose an asset freeze and travel ban on 12 Syrian regime ministers, accusing them of "responsibility for serious human rights violations", Reuters reported. The ministers' names will only be published in the EU's Official Journal on Tuesday, when the sanctions will take effect, the EU said in a statement. The decision brings to 191 the number of people targeted by EU sanctions on Syria, which has been plunged into civil war for the last three years. Fifty-three companies or other organisations, including the central bank of Syria, remain under an EU asset freeze.
