Omar Haj Koadour | AFP | Getty Images
A picture taken on April 6, 2017 shows 40-year-old Hassan Youssef, a victim of the April 4, 2017 suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, receiving medical care in a hospital in the nearby northwestern Syrian city of Idlib.
The Treasury Department announced “one of the largest sanctions actions in its history,” slapping 271 individuals with punishment in response to an apparent April 4 chemical attack against civilians in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria.
In a Monday statement, the Treasury said it was targeting individuals within a Syrian government agency that the department says is responsible for the development and production of chemical weapons.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a Monday statement, “We take Syria’s disregard for innocent human life very seriously, and will relentlessly pursue and shut down the financial networks of all individuals involved with the production of chemical weapons used to commit these atrocities.”
U.S. officials have been steadfast in their determination that Bashar Assad’s government is responsible for deploying the nerve agent sarin, in violation of an agreement Syria made in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on April 11 that “there is no doubt” that the Syrian government is responsible.
