AP - A state-run newspaper in Syria says the European Union's ban on oil imports from the country was a sign that Europe is trying to regain its colonial past.

The EU announced on Friday it was banning oil imports from Syria to protest the government's deadly crackdown on a 5-month-old anti-government uprising.

The sanctions will cost the embattled regime millions of dollars a day.

The Al-Thawra newspaper lashed out at the sanctions Sunday. The paper said Europe is working to "regain the past glory of its nasty, abominable colonization".