The European Union has sought to punish the family of Syria’s President Dr. Bashar al-Assad, blacklisting his wife, mother, sister, and sister-in-law and freezing their assets.

The European Union has sought to punish the family of Syrian President Dr. Bashar al-Assad, blacklisting his wife, mother, sister, and sister-in-law and freezing their assets.

The EU travel ban placed on the four women, to be made official on Saturday, means they cannot enter the EU. But the Syrian First Lady is partially exempted from that overall ban since she is a British national and may still travel to the UK.

Under the EU visa regime, the overall travel ban does not stop the holder of a passport of an EU country from continuing to travel to that country.

British officials confirmed that Assad still has a valid UK passport and that she would be able to visit Britain, where she was born and grew up. Her parents still live in London.

"She can still enter the UK. There's nothing legal we can do about it without good reason," said a British official.

The confusion surrounding the impact of the sanctions on the Assad family left open the possibility that blacklisting Asma al-Assad could turn out to be relatively toothless.

It appeared that there would no attempt to strip her of her British nationality.

"It is important to note that sanctions are imposed on individuals to encourage them to change their behavior," said a British government source. "The imposition of sanctions would not lead to automatic arrest or action to deprive someone of their nationality."

Asma al-Assad's assets held in the UK will be frozen, the sources said, adding that she will be allowed to use her London home, but would not be able to sell it or have access to rental income.

Noting that President Assad has been under EU sanctions for almost a year.

In addition to the Assad family members, another eight figures in the regime and two oil companies were blacklisted and had their assets frozen.