The European Union will now be able to freeze assets and impose travel bans on people associated with terror groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. The sanctions, agreed on Tuesday, target EU nationals and may be imposed even on people who are not on UN blacklists. People can be put under the restrictions for recruiting members or providing terror groups with financing or arms, among other things. In particular, the sanctions are an attempt to stop people traveling to Syria; Europol estimates that more than 5,000 EU nationals have travelled there in recent years to join terror groups.