DESIGNATION OF ADDITIONAL SYRIAN ENTITIES UNDER

S E C R E T STATE 001166 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2017 TAGS: PREL KNNP PARM SY ETTC SUBJECT: DESIGNATION OF ADDITIONAL SYRIAN ENTITIES UNDER E.O. 13382 Classified By: ISN A/S JOHN C. ROOD, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraph 4 for action. ¶2. (U) BACKGROUND: The Treasury Department on January 4, 2007, designated three additional Syrian entities pursuant to Executive Order 13382 ("Blocking the Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and their Supporters") for their connection to a designated proliferator of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). These entities are owned or controlled by, or act or purport to act for or on behalf of, the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), which was designated under E.O. 13382 on June 29, 2005. The SSRC is the Syrian government agency responsible for developing and producing non-conventional weapons and the missiles to deliver them. Although the SSRC has an overt civilian research function, it focuses substantively on the development of biological and chemical weapons. ¶3. (S) OBJECTIVE: To notify host governments that the United States has designated three additional Syrian entities under Executive Order 13382 ("Blocking the Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and their Supporters") for their connection to a designated proliferator of weapons of mass destruction, and urge host governments to take similar action to ensure their financial system is not used for ongoing proliferation activity associated with the SSRC. ¶4. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Department requests that Posts deliver points in paragraph 5 to appropriate host government officials as a non-paper. ¶5. (S/REL TO OTTAWA, PARIS, ROME, BERLIN, TOKYO, MOSCOW, LONDON, CANBERRA, MANAMA, CAIRO, RIYADH, MUSCAT, DOHA, KUWAIT, ABU DHABI) BEGIN NON-PAPER -- In light of our ongoing cooperation to combat proliferation finance, the U.S. would like to inform your government that the U.S. Treasury Department on January 4, 2007, designated three additional Syrian entities pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13382, "Blocking the Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and their Supporters". -- The following names will be added to Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons ("SDN list") and published in the Federal Register pursuant to Executive Order 13382. ¶1. HIGHER INSTITUTE OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (a.k.a. "HIAST"),P.O. Box 31983, Barzeh, Damascus (Syria) ¶2. ELECTRONICS INSTITUTE, P.O. Box 4470, Damascus (Syria) ¶3. NATIONAL STANDARDS AND CALIBRATION LABORATORY (a.k.a. "NSCL"),P.O. Box 4470, Damascus (Syria) -- These entities are being designated for their connection to the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), an entity named in the Annex of E.O. 13382. These entities are owned or controlled by, or act or purport to act for or on behalf of, the SSRC. -- SSRC is the Syrian government agency responsible for developing and producing non-conventional weapons and the missiles to deliver them. Although SSRC has an overt civilian research function, it focuses substantively on the development of biological and chemical weapons. -- We urge your government to investigate financial relationships and transactions in which these newly designated Syrian proliferation entities have an interest. -- Where it is suspected that these relationships and transactions may be facilitating Syria's proliferation activities, we urge you to take appropriate action to cease dealings with the entities in question and issue an advisory to your banks to encourage them not to do business with those entities. -- As you are well aware, the U.S. encourages financial authorities everywhere to take action to deny entities involved in proliferation activities access to the international financial system. -- We also encourage you to take any and all measures to protect your financial system from exploitation by proliferation networks and to use your financial and diplomatic influence to encourage other states and institutions to adopt similar measures. -- We look forward to continuing to work closely with you on this and other related security matters. End non-paper. ¶6. (SBU) REPORTING DEADLINE: Please report delivery of the non-paper and any immediate response by January 18, 2007. Please slug replies for ISN, T, TREASURY, and NEA. ¶7. (U) POINT OF CONTACT: Questions may be directed to ISN/CPI (Jennifer Chalmers, 202-647-9715, or Anthony Ruggiero, 202-647-5181). RICE NNNN End Cable Text