Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria Walid Muallem stated that his government considers sanctions imposed on it by European Union states to be war announcement, according to Agence France-Presse.

However, the foreign minister did not itemize what the Syrian leadership intends to undertake within the framework of the “war”. The minister noted that Damascus will not stand any external interference to the domestic issues, and, particularly, excluded possibility to set flight restricted area over Syria, or any other kind of foreign military interference.

Muallem also called on Turkey to re-consider its tough stand regarding to the Syrian leadership. Turkey demanded from Damascus to cease violence towards its own population, announce on creation of a pluralistic multi-party system in Syria, conduct fair elections under the supervision of foreign observers and provide freedom for mass media. The demand was based on the recent run-out of more than ten thousand Syrians from frontier regions to Turkey, currently the flow of migrants continues.

EU announced sanctions over a number of high ranking Syrian officials, as well as some large companies connected with the Syrian leaders. The accounts of those officials and companies in Europe are frozen. The officials and businessmen are banned to appear on the territory of EU.