US Blacklists Syrian Government Employees

The US has blacklisted 271 employees of a Syrian government agency it said was responsible for developing chemical weapons, weeks after a poison gas attack killed scores of people in a rebel-held province in Syria. The US Treasury Department said the employees of Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center are experts in chemistry and related fields, or have worked in support of the center’s “chemical weapons program” since at least 2012, or both. “These sweeping sanctions target the scientific support center for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s horrific chemical weapons attack on innocent civilian men, women, and children,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. International organizations say that Syria has repeatedly used chemical weapons on its own civilians during the past six years of civil war. Most recently, earlier this month, the US accused Syrian government troops of using chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun, killing dozens of people, including many children. The US launched 59 missiles against Syria.