WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on the son of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, extending efforts to block funds for the war-torn country's regime.

Hafez al-Assad, 18, named after his grandfather, will not be allowed to travel or maintain assets in the United States, the State Department said.

The designation was part of a second set of sanctions under the Caesar Act, a US law that took effect in June that aims never to normalize the Assad regime even as it succeeds in winning back most of Syria after a brutal nine-year war. "We will continue to hold Bashar al-Assad and his regime accountable for their atrocities, while keeping the memory of their victims alive," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. "It is time for Assad's needless, brutal war to end," he said. Also hit by the new sanctions is the Syrian businessman Wassim Anwar al-Qattan, who is involved in major construction projects in Damascus.