Brussels: The European Union banned the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from travelling to the EU or shopping with European companies in a move to stop her buying the Chanel dresses and Louboutin shoes she craves.
The EU's latest round of sanctions, which also targeted the president's mother and sister, is notable for including Assad's London-born wife Asma, whose luxury shopping habit was laid bare this month in a cache of hacked emails.
She was once admired for her cosmopolitan glamour, but has over the past year turned into a hate figure for many Syrians, standing by her husband as he conducts a bloody crackdown against a popular uprising in which thousands have been killed.
"With this new listing we are striking at the heart of the Assad clan, sending out a loud and clear message to Assad: he should step down," Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said on the sidelines of an EU ministers' meeting in Brussels.
A former investment banker, Asma al-Assad once cultivated the image of a serious-minded woman inspired by Western values.
But she appears to have continued a life of luxury shopping and entertainment during the uprising against the four-decade rule of the Assad family, while according to the United Nations at least 8,000 people have been killed in the violence.
Emails she exchanged with her husband, obtained by Britain's Guardian newspaper, apparently showed they were buying pop music and luxury goods on the internet during the bloodshed.
Asma al-Assad, a 36-year-old mother of three, has been shown to have a penchant for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin shoes and Chanel dresses from France.
Before the Syrian insurgency started a year ago, a glowing article in Vogue magazine described her as "a rose in the desert" and her household as "wildly democratic".
But that image has crumbled as the emails showed her spending tens of thousands of pounds on jewels, fancy furniture, and a Venetian glass vase from Harrods.
After Friday's decision, EU border guards will refuse her entry if she tries to travel into the bloc. But Britain will have to allow her in if she uses a British passport.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels also expanded the list of people facing asset freezes and bans on travel to the EU to several other Syrians, and barred European companies from doing business with two Syrian oil companies, EU officials said.
The decisions, which come into force on Saturday, build on 12 previous rounds of sanctions aimed at isolating Assad within Syria and cutting off his sources of finance. These included an arms embargo and a ban on importing Syrian oil into the EU.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said sanctions would send a strong signal to Assad that the international community opposed his actions and wanted him to give up power.
"I cannot say in strong enough terms how much we are concerned about what is going on in Syria," Ashton told reporters in Brussels.
She said the international community's objective was "a situation where Assad recognises his responsibility, moves aside and we are able to see a genuine movement forward in Syria".
Assad has been the target of sanctions since May last year, but these have so far had little impact on his policies. Violence has intensified in Syria in recent weeks as pro-government forces bombard rebel towns and villages, looking to sweep their lightly armed opponents out of their strongholds.
The international community has struggled to formulate a joint approach in the face of opposition from Russia and China to UN Security Council resolutions proposed by the West.
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