U.S. is currently drafting an executive order that will empower President Obama to freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials and bar them from engaging in any business dealings with the US

“The Obama administration may level sanctions against Syria as punishment for President Bashar Assad's government's violent crackdown on protesters,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The U.S. is currently drafting an executive order that will empower President Obama to freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials and bar them from engaging in any business dealings with the United States, the report said, citing officials briefed on the matter.

According to the report, freezing Syrian officials' assets in the U.S. will have little impact on Assad's inner circle. However, the hope is that European countries, where Syrian officials have more substantial holdings, will follow suit, thereby having a more crippling economic effect.

Officials reportedly hope that the legal order will be completed by the U.S. Treasury Department in the coming weeks, an indication of a hardening of the United State's stance toward Syria.