French foreign minister proposes sanctions on those behind attacks against Syria’s Alawites

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday that he had proposed at a European Union meeting for sanctions to be placed on those behind attacks against Syria’s Alawites.

Syria has been hit with widespread violence over the last few weeks, after Syria’s Sunni Islamist-led authorities said their security forces came under attack by militants loyal to the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite family come from the coastal region.

The attack unleashed widespread killings targeting Alawites, marking the worst bloodshed since Assad was toppled in December after 14 years of war.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

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