ANKARA/JEDDAH/BEIRUT: Turkey said Wednesday it had suspended all financial credit dealings with Syria and frozen Syrian government assets, joining the Arab League and Western powers in imposing economic sanctions against President Bashar Assad’s government.

The world’s largest Islamic body, meanwhile urged Syria to “immediately stop the use of excessive force” against its citizens to avert the threat of foreign intervention.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, told a news conference in the Red Sea City of Jeddah that foreign ministers, attending an OIC meeting, called on Damascus to quickly enter into a dialogue with its opponents.

“The executive committee [of the OIC] ... urges the Syrian authorities to immediately stop using excessive force against citizens and to respect human rights,” a statement said.

Ihsanoglu earlier said the 57-member body wanted to try to resolve the crisis in Syria within the OIC without foreign intervention, saying the group opposed any plans to take the issue to the international community.

“We are keen to preserve Syria’s safety, security and stability, and insist on rejecting the internationalization of the Syrian crisis and on working towards resolving it within the broader Islamic family,” Ihsanoglu said at the start of the meeting.

But at a news conference after the session, Ihsanoglu warned that Syria’s failure to heed calls for a peaceful resolution would make internationalization inevitable.

“If this problem is not solved within this family, it will go to other places ... We think and Syria thinks that it is better to solve the problem within this framework,” he said.

Asked whether the OIC had considered expelling Syria from its ranks, Ihsanoglu said that was not considered.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem left the meeting without speaking to journalists.

Syrian security forces have been using lethal force to crack down on demonstrations that began in March against 41 years of rule by the Assad family. Assad says that his forces are confronting saboteurs inspired by foreign powers.

Wednesday’s OIC meeting came as Turkey followed through on threats of sanctions and the Arab League unveiled a list of top Syrian officials facing a travel ban Wednesday.

The 17 officials who could be banned from traveling to other Arab countries include the defense and interior ministers, along with close members of Assad’s inner circle. Assad’s millionaire cousin, Rami Makhlouf, who has controlled the mobile phone network and other lucrative enterprises in Syria, and the president’s younger brother Maher, who is believed to be in command of much of the crackdown, also were on the list.

The 17 high-level Syrian officials facing an Arab League travel ban also include a number of officials in the state security service, including Maj. Gen. Assef Shawkat, the deputy chief of staff for security affairs who is married to Assad’s sister, Bushra.

The travel ban is part of an unprecedented series of sanctions announced by the 22-nation bloc Sunday. While many of the sanctions went into effect immediately, including cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank, halting Arab government funding for projects in Syria and freezing government assets, the travel ban will still need be reviewed by a technical committee Saturday in Doha, Qatar.

The League imposed sanctions after Damascus failed to agree to allow a 500-strong monitoring mission into Syria.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference that Turkey was imposing a travel ban and freezing the assets of “certain officials who are members of the main cadre of leaders, who are the subject of claims of exerting violence against the people or of resorting to illegitimate means.”“All shipments of arms and military equipment through Turkey’s land, airspace and seas ... will be prevented,” he said.

He said Ankara was suspending all ties to the Syrian central bank, freezing any Syrian government assets in Turkey and suspending any loan deals. Future dealing with the Syrian Trade Bank would be suspended, while current deals would continue.

He also announced the suspension of a joint economic and political cooperation council between the two countries “until a legitimate leadership that is in peace with its people comes to power in Syria.”

However, in imposing the sanctions, Davutoglu said Ankara had taken “meticulous care” to not inflict suffering on the Syrian people because of the mistakes of the government.

“We will also evaluate additional measures that we can take after this, depending on the behavior of the Syrian government,” he said.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, speaking after Davutoglu’s announcement, said Turkey was moving “extremely carefully.”

“Basic and vital human needs such as water or electricity will definitely not be included in these measures,” Gul said.

The new sanctions come on top of sanctions already imposed by the United States and the European Union – punishing an already wobbling economy. Turkey and Syria did $2.4 billion in trade last year, according to the Turkish Embassy in Damascus.

The sanctions are aimed at weakening the resolve of Syria’s business classes based in the two capital cities, Damascus and Aleppo. Syrian business leaders have long traded political freedoms for economic privileges in Syria, where the prosperous merchant classes are key supporters.

Despite the increased diplomatic and financial pressure, activists reported continued violence Wednesday in several areas, including Idlib province, which borders Turkey, and the southern Deraa province. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers stormed the village of Dael in Deraa province early in the morning amid heavy gunfire.

All communications with the village were cut at dawn, including mobile, land lines as well as electricity, the observatory said.

Another activist coalition, called the Local Coordination Committees, also reported explosions and deployment of the military in Dael and said communications had been cut.

Syria has banned most foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting, making witness accounts and details gathered by activist groups a channel of information.

Wednesday, state-run TV announced that more than 900 detainees involved in the uprising were released from prison in an act of amnesty. About 1,700 prisoners were released earlier this month, the state-run news agency SANA said.

Separately, a judge in Damascus ordered the release of nine activists who were detained in August, human rights campaigners said. “They will be out within hours, we are just waiting for their papers,” said activist Mazen Darwish.

The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the situation in Syria Friday following a request by the European Union, a diplomatic source told AFP.

The move follows a report published Monday by the U.N.-appointed investigators who found Syrian security forces had committed crimes against humanity, including the killing and torture of children, on orders from the top of Assad’s command.