- DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syria said
a new US law imposing sanctions on the country was the work of Israel's
friends in Congress.
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- The law aims to punish Syria for alleged ties to terrorists,
its tacit support for insurgents in Iraq and alleged efforts to obtain
weapons of mass destruction.
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- "The partisans of Israel in the American Congress
worked actively for the adoption of this law," the official SANA news
agency said Saturday in the first reaction from Damascus to US President
George W. Bush signing the bill into law.
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- "These partisans of Israel want more than anything
for Syria to end its support for the resistance of the Palestinian people,"
the statement added. The bill demands that Syria end support for terrorism,
halt the development of chemical and biological arms as well as medium-
and long-range missiles and withdraw the roughly 20,000 troops it has deployed
in Lebanon.
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- 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."
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- And it says Syria must close its borders to any military
equipment and anti-US militants bound for Iraq, where US-led forces have
weathered deadly attacks since ousting Saddam Hussein in April.
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- The legislation directs the president to prohibit US
exports to Syria of weaponry and so-called "dual-use" technology
with both civilian and military applications and to pick two from a range
of sanctions.
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- They include restricting US exports and business investment,
downgrading US-Syrian diplomatic ties, imposing travel restrictions on
Syrian diplomats in the United States, freezing Syria's assets in the United
States and restricting overflight rights for Syrian aircraft inside US
airspace.
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- Earlier this month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
told the New York Times his government had helped the United States block
at least seven terrorist attacks on American targets.
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- He also denied that Syria sponsored terrorism or that
his country considers the United States as an adversary.
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- He said Syria did not sponsor terrorist organizations,
and that its support for Lebanon's anti-Israeli group Hezbollah was political
and did not involve arms or money.
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- Copyright © 2003 Agence France Presse. All rights
reserved.
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- http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/61846/1/.html
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