Bangladesh, June 25 -- The European Union has announced a fresh round of sanctions targeting five individuals closely linked to the Assad regime in Syria, marking a significant move in the ongoing international efforts to hold accountable those responsible for serious human rights abuses. This latest action, aimed at financiers and former military officers accused of enabling and perpetrating atrocities-including the regimes use of chemical weapons-comes at a sensitive time as Brussels has simultaneously eased some economic sanctions on Syria to support reconstruction efforts.

At the heart of the EUs latest sanctions are two Syrian-born businessmen, Mudalal and Imad Khoury, brothers with dual Syrian and Russian citizenship, who have long...