The US unveiled sanctions on Monday against Bashar al-Assad’s father-in-law, a day after the former Syrian president reportedly fled to Russia as rebels took over the capital Damascus.
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Assad’s abrupt departure brought to a spectacular end five decades of brutal rule by his clan over a country ravaged by one of the deadliest wars of the century.
He oversaw a crack down on a pro-democracy movement that erupted in 2011, sparking a civil war that killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes.
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Two weeks to Damascus: how Syrian rebels toppled the Assad regime
Two weeks to Damascus: how Syrian rebels toppled the Assad regime
The Treasury Department said in a statement that Fawaz al-Akhras was being designated for providing “support and facilitation to Bashar al-Assad related to financial matters, sanctions evasion and attempts by Bashar al-Assad to achieve international political engagement”.
Akhras was born in the Syrian city of Homs in September 1946, and is a dual Syrian and UK national, according to the Treasury’s list of sanctioned individuals.
He trained as a cardiologist, and practised medicine in London, where his daughter Asma – who is married to the toppled former president – was born.
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Akhras, whose registered address is an unassuming house in west London, was previously sanctioned by the US in 2020 along with Asma, his wife Sahar, and several other family members.