Named for a Syrian journalist who fled his native country with thousands of pictures documenting abuse in Bashar Assad's jail, the US Caesar Act came into force today.
Under the law's terms, companies working with Syrian leader Bashar Assad will be placed under sanctions. The Guardian notes that the law's passage has already led to a devaluation of Syria's currency.
39 people or entities have been targeted so far, including Assad's wife. Assad himself has already been under sanction since 2011.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the goal of the Act was to force Assad to accept a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, elections, and political transition, following years of war and instability.
"We anticipate many more sanctions and we will not stop until Assad and his regime stop their needless, brutal war against the Syrian people," Pompeo said, noting that the United States intended to begin "a sustained campaign of economic and political pressure to deny the Assad regime revenue and support it uses to wage war and commit mass atrocities against the Syrian people."
Pompeo added that his administration was working "in full cooperation with other like-minded countries," to target the Assad regime and its supporters. The EU has already imposed its own sanctions on Syria.