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The European Union has imposed fresh sanctions on two Syrian-born businessmen long suspected of quietly bankrolling the Assad regime’s most repressive activities — including its chemical weapons program.
Mudalal and Imad Khoury, Russian-Syrian brothers with a history of offshore dealings and covert financing, were named Monday in a new round of EU sanctions targeting individuals accused of “serious human rights violations” in Syria. The move marks the first time the EU has formally sanctioned Mudalal Khoury, who was blacklisted by the United States a decade ago for allegedly trying to procure ammonium nitrate — a compound with both agricultural and explosive uses — on behalf of the Syrian regime.
The sanctions come in response to a March 2025 outbreak of violence in Syria’s coastal region and alleged support for the use of chemical weapons against civilians. The Council of the European Union said the individuals named — five in total — are accused of supporting the Assad regime’s most violent campaigns, including torture, extrajudicial killings, and stoking sectarian conflict.
The measures include asset freezes, a prohibition on providing funds, and travel bans to EU member states.
Mudalal Khoury, who holds Russian citizenship, has long been considered a financial architect of the regime’s survival. A 2020 investigation by Global Witness and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found that companies linked to the Khoury brothers provided cover for the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, the Syrian government agency widely believed to be responsible for developing chemical weapons and ballistic missiles.
Leaked financial records reviewed by journalists showed that Mudalal Khoury’s laundering network moved funds through a web of offshore entities and accounts — facilitating transactions connected to a range of international fraud schemes and enabling access to global financial markets despite sanctions.
His younger brother, Imad, was added to the U.S. sanctions list in 2016 for allegedly aiding those efforts.
The EU’s designations arrive at a delicate diplomatic moment. Brussels recently moved to ease some economic sanctions on Syria as part of what it framed as a push toward reconstruction. But officials say they are drawing a clear line between humanitarian efforts and accountability for human rights abuses.
The latest round of sanctions also targeted three former Syrian military officers — Miqdad Fatiha, Ghaith Dalla, and Suhayl al-Hasan — accused of leading militias that fueled sectarian tensions and committed grave abuses against detainees and civilians during the March unrest.
While the war in Syria has largely faded from international headlines, the EU’s move underscores ongoing concern about networks that have helped the Assad government evade international pressure — and the men, like the Khoury brothers, who allegedly made it possible.
