Bush Imposes Sanctions on Syria this Week, Possibly Today

President Bush will this week impose sanctions on Syria for allegedly supporting terrorism and failing to close its border with Iraq to forces targeting U.S. troops there, a U.S. official says.
The official said Bush could levy the punitive measures on Damascus "as early as Tuesday" but that the precise date of the announcement could change.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the U.S.-sponsored Arabic television channel al-Hurra in an interview last week that new sanctions on Syria were "inevitable" and would come "probably this month."

The anonymous official did not say which specific measures Bush will use under the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, which he signed into law in mid-December.

The bill demands that Syria should end its support for terrorism; halt the development of chemical and biological arms as well as medium- and long-range missiles; and withdraw its roughly 20,000 troops it has deployed in Lebanon.

It also calls on the governments of Lebanon and Syria to "enter into serious unconditional bilateral negotiations" with Israel in order to secure "a full and permanent peace."

Syrian foreign Minister Farouk Al Sharaa said from Cairo Monday that the Arab countries had taken a unanimous resolution to "collectively confront" the U.S. sanctions if they are imposed on Syria.

Earlier reports from Damascus said Syria would rely on Lebanon to import all its needs that are covered by the U.S. sanctions.(AFP-Naharnet)