The European Parliament on Wednesday said that a spam attack from pro-Syrian regime elements took over its Facebook page. It claimed that a similar campaign had also aimed the White House.

Following the cyber incident, the European Union government has decided and made legal a sanction on Tuesday against the 13 members of Assad’s inner force. This includes Assad’s brother and several other cousins.

According to the parliament’s statement on its website, its Facebook page was extremely spammed with comments that support the Syrian President and his government. The parliament said it cannot allow that form of spamming attack. Thus, it has cancelled the comments and banned the users who have posted several repeated comments under various posts.

Jaume Duch, AFP parliament spokesman, confirmed that the spam attack, which lasted for a couple of hours, was made by elements, which supported the government of Syria. He said the technicians have already started the investigation.

The parliament said they have decided to investigate what happened since similar activities have been experienced by the White House, as well as other institutions. It says the attack was a coordinated operation.

The sanctions were announced in the midst of increasing international protest over a bloody violence under the Syrian government. Late April, the Obama administration imposed sanctions against Syrian officers. Other nations such as Europe were encouraged to do the same as well.

The White House welcomed EU’s decision to sanction Syrian officials on Saturday, and warned that additional steps may be made. UK and France calls for more sanctions. However, Germany remains opposed to the plan.