The EU has placed four high-ranking Assad army officers on a sanctions blacklist over chemical weapons attacks on civilians in Syria.

The decision brings to 239 the number of Assad regime individuals hit with travel bans or asset freezes over the violent suppression of civilians since the revolution started in 2011, according to a European Union statement issued on Monday

The high-ranking regime officials Ahmad Balul, Sajji Darwish, Mohammed Ibrahim, and Badie Mualla will be banned entry to the EU countries and will not be able to access any assets within the EU countries or banks.

“The EU added these four persons for their role in the use of chemical weapons against the civilian population, in line with the EU’s policy to fight the proliferation and use of chemical weapons,” the statement said.

67 more regime entities are affected by asset freezes while the EU also has in place other sanctions against the Assad regime as a whole, including arms and oil embargoes plus investment restrictions and a freeze of Syrian central bank assets.

An investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) showed that the Assad regime was responsible for chlorine attacks that killed scores of civilians in the rebel-held areas in 2014 and 2015. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)