Arab League details Syria sanctions

Syrian children who fled the violence in their country are seen in Mafraq, Jordan. More than 300 children in have died in an eight-month crackdown on protests. Majed Jaber/Reuters

The Arab League has approved details of sanctions against Syria aimed at pressuring the regime to end its deadly eight-month crackdown on dissent.

Arab League ministers meeting in Qatar on Sunday formally agreed on a list of Syrian officials who will be barred entry from fellow Arab nations in the 22-member bloc. Syrian President Bashar Assad is not on the list.

The group also agreed on a list of strategic goods that would be exempted from a trade ban to avoid harming the Syrian people and also ordered a 50 per cent reduction in Syria flights.

The Cairo-based Arab League agreed to the sanctions a week ago.

They include cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank and halting Arab government funding for projects in Syria.

The League has also suspended Syria's membership in the organization.

The announcement comes as violence swept across Syria killing 25 people on Saturday, most of them in a battle between troops and a growing force of army defectors who have joined the movement to oust the autocratic ruler, President Bashar Assad, activists said.

The revolt against Assad's rule began with peaceful protests in mid-March, triggering a brutal crackdown. The unrest has steadily become bloodier as defectors and some civilians take up arms, prompting the United Nations' human rights chief to refer to it this week as a civil war and urge the international community to protect Syrian civilians.

Economic and diplomatic sanctions by the U.S., the European Union and international allies have so far failed to stop the bloody crackdown.