The European Union tightened sanctions against Syria's energy and financial sectors on Thursday in order to punish President Bashar al-Assad's regime for its crackdown on dissidents.

"The EU reiterates its condemnation in the stronget terms of the brutal crackdown by the Syrian government which risks taking Syria down a very dangerous path of violence, sectarian clashes and militarisation," EU foreign ministers said in a statement during talks in Brussels.

The ministers said they decided to implement "further restrictive measures targeting the regime’s ability to conduct its brutal repression".

The sanctions target "the energy, financial, banking and trade sectors and include the listing of additional individuals and entities that are involved in the violence or directly supporting the regime".

Diplomats said the measures include bans on exporting gas and oil industry equipment to Syria, trading Syrian government bonds and selling software that could be used to monitor Internet and telephone communications.

They also agreed to refrain from providing concessional loans to Syria -- credit at lower rates and longer grace periods than what is offered by the markets.

The goal is to restrict the regime's access to cash.

The EU also added 12 more individuals and 11 more entities to a blacklist of people and companies hit by assets freezes and travel bans over the regime's crackdown on protesters, diplomats said.

The EU has passed nine rounds of sanctions against Syria, placing 74 people on the list, including Assad, enforcing an arms embargo and banning imports of Syrian crude oil.

The UN says the violence has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March.