European Union governments agreed on Friday to increase the number of Syrian officials and institutions targeted by EU sanctions and laid out plans for a possible oil embargo, the bloc's foreign policy chief said according to Reuters. The moves reflected a significant stepping up of international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, in response to his violent crackdown on protesters contesting his family's four-decade rule over Syria. The United States and the EU, along with the governments of Britain, France and Germany, called on Thursday for Assad to step down. Major states had until then urged him to reform rather than leave. The EU initially appeared to move with more caution than Washington, which coupled Thursday's calls with a ban on U.S. citizens from operating in or investing in Syria and a prohibition against U.S. imports of Syrian oil products. At a meeting in Brussels, EU ambassadors agreed to add 15 people and five institutions to a list of entities already targeted by EU asset freezes or travel bans. The new lists will be subject to formal approval early next week.
