Washington, DC - Today, the Department of State imposed sanctions on an entity associated with Syria’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-capable ballistic missile program by designating the Organization for Technological Industries (OTI) under Executive Order 13382. E.O. 13382 targets the assets of WMD proliferators and their supporters in an effort to curb the spread of WMD and protect the U.S. financial system from being exploited by proliferators. Entities designated under E.O. 13382 are prohibited from engaging in transactions with any U.S. person and are subject to a U.S. asset freeze.

According to a June 26, 2012 report broadcast by Syrian Satellite Channel Television of an address by Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to the then-new Syrian Cabinet, OTI belongs to the Syrian Ministry of Defense, was established in 2010, and is involved in “high level technical industries.” OTI’s primary mission is to import advanced strategic technologies for surface-to-surface missile (SSM) and surface-to-surface rocket (SSR) programs in Syria. OTI is involved in furthering Syria’s WMD-capable ballistic missile program. As of May 2014, OTI changed its purpose to include producing components for SSMs and SSRs produced by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) – Syria’s leading advanced weapons development and production entity. SSRC was designated by President George W. Bush in the Annex to E.O. 13382 issued on June 29, 2005.

The Department’s action follows findings by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) that the Syrian regime used chemicals as a weapon against its own citizens. In reports issued in August and October 2016, the JIM – established by the United Nations Security Council in 2015 to identity those involved in the use of chemical weapons – determined that the Syrian government was involved in three attacks involving chemicals used as weapons. Specifically, the JIM found that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces used chemicals as weapons against the Syrian people in three separate incidents.

As a result of today’s action, any property or interest in property of the identified persons in the possession or control of U.S. persons or within the United States must be blocked. Additionally, transactions by U.S. persons involving these persons are generally prohibited.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) is concurrently designating 18 senior regime officials connected to Syria’s WMD programs and will identify five Syrian military branches as part of the Government of Syria. Details on the Treasury sanctions are available here:

Identifier Information for Organization for Technological Industries:

Name: Organization for Technological Industries
AKA: The Organization for Technical Industries
Address: Sham Algadida OTip Box Damascus – 11037, Syrian Arab Republic