Taking aim

US Congress members threaten to draw up a new law against Syria if the Bush administration continues to postpone the implementation of sanctions. Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington

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A number of United States Congress members say they are increasingly impatient with the failure of President George W Bush's administration to implement a bill calling for sanctions against Syria, reiterating charges that Damascus is helping resistance fighters in Iraq and supporting radical Palestinian groups.

Congress members Eliot Engel of New York and Ileana Ros- Lehtinen of Florida say their "patience has run out" as five months have passed since Bush signed the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act.

The two members of Congress -- the original co-sponsors of the Syria Accountability Act -- warned that they would introduce a new law, naming it the Syria-Lebanon Liberation Act, designed to propose more punitive sanctions against Syria.

The legislation signed by Bush on 12 December 2003 prohibits US exports to Syria of weaponry and so-called "dual- use technology" -- in other words, technology perceived as having both civilian and military functions. The law also requires that the US president choose two sanctions from a range of six, including restricting US exports and business investment, downgrading US-Syrian diplomatic ties, imposing travel restrictions on Syrian diplomats in the US, freezing Syria's assets in the US, and restricting overflight rights for Syrian aircraft inside US airspace.

The bill demands that Syria end its alleged support for "terrorism", halt the development of chemical and biological weapons, as well as medium and long-range missiles, and withdraw the 20,000 troops it has stationed 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".

It also says Syria must close its borders off to prevent the passage of any military equipment and anti-US militants into Iraq, where US-led forces have suffered deadly attacks since ousting Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

"I thought that the Bush administration would implement the bill within a matter of days or weeks [after signing it in December]. To this date, unfortunately, this has not happened," Engel said.

Adding to his frustration were repeated promises from senior US administration officials that the act would be implemented. Engel complains that Syria yet refuses to modify its stance on either Iraq or the Arab-Israeli conflict.

According to some reports, US officials have been cautious in their implementation of the act against Syria precisely because of complex regional circumstances, and more particularly because of the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the occupied Palestinian territories. Informed US sources said the administration was planning to announce the implementation of a number of sanctions against Damascus in March before Israel carried out the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Facing angry reactions to Israel's act and the administration's refusal to condemn the killing, US officials calculated that the timing might not be suitable for an aggressive stance against Syria.

A Washington-based Arab diplomat said the US administration also heeded the requests of Egypt and Saudi Arabia to defer the implementation of the law until after the Arab summit which was supposed to be held in Tunis in late March. A new set of US sanctions against Syria would have embarrassed Arab leaders and forced them to take a tougher anti-US stand.

The administration is also reportedly divided over the issue because some officials are warning that the US may totally lose any potential Syrian cooperation over Iraq and the "war on terror". The Washington Post quoted a senior congressional aide as saying that the National Security Council and the Pentagon are pressing for the immediate implementation of sanctions, whereas the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency are counselling caution.

Syria reportedly provided a tremendous amount of help to Washington following the 11 September 2001 attacks. US officials concede that some of the information Syria provided helped in foiling a number of major attacks by Al-Qa'eda against US targets in the Middle East region. But when Syria openly voiced its strong opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq, US-Syrian relations took a turn for the worse. US officials maintain that Damascus openly approved the infiltration of Syrian and Arab fighters into Iraq ahead of the war a year ago, and has been reluctant to tighten its grip on the long border with Iraq since then.

US officials have also accused Syria of refusing to return to Baghdad frozen assets -- estimated to total $3 billion -- that belonged to the former Baath regime.

The Syrian government has vehemently denied all charges, saying Washington is looking for a scapegoat to justify its failure in Iraq. Damascus said that while it has increased its monitoring of the border with Iraq, it cannot prevent all infiltration attempts because of the geographical nature of the area on the one hand, and its lack of resources on the other. Syrian officials have said it is in fact up to the US to tighten control of the border with Syria from within occupied Iraq.

The Syrian government also denied it was refusing to return assets that belonged to the former Iraqi regime, but conceded that it had used up part of the money to pay outstanding debts for several Syrian companies that were doing business with Iraqi enterprises prior to the invasion.

Engel meanwhile strongly criticised Syria for failing to deport leaders of radical Palestinian groups based in Damascus -- namely Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- and for its continued support for Lebanon's Hizbullah. Syria did ask the leaders of the Palestinian groups to close down their media offices in the Arab capital, but that constituted more of a symbolic act as the groups themselves continued to operate freely, Engel claimed.

The heaviest charge Engel and Ros-Lehtinen have made against the Syrian government is that it had perpetrated the attacks in the embassy neighbourhood of Al-Mazze in Damascus last week in order to try and prove to the US and the world that it had itself become a victim of terror.

"This is a sad charade," Ros-Lehtinen said. "All of us who are familiar with the Syrian regime's track record on terrorism know full well that this is just one more political manoeuvre by Damascus to avoid being sanctioned by the US."

Engel said that if the Syria Accountability Act is not implemented immediately, "I'm afraid Congress will again have to step in. We will develop new legislation which will implement the law and this time no discretion will be provided to the White House." He added: "I would rather not go down that route, but the inaction may leave us with no choice."

Ros-Lehtinen said the proposed Syria and Lebanon Liberation Act "seeks to isolate the Syrian regime internationally by calling for sanctions on individuals and foreign countries providing assistance to Syria, which in turn enable the Syrian regime to continue its terrorist activities and its efforts to acquire and develop threatening conventional and unconventional weapons.

"And it calls for a series of diplomatic efforts -- bilaterally, internationally -- to achieve the goals of the bill, with special emphasis on the United Nations Security Council, the UN Commission on Human Rights and the International Atomic Energy Agency," she added. "Finally, the bill also establishes a programme of assistance to independent human rights and pro- democracy forces in Syria and Lebanon, and a programme of grant assistance to independent broadcasts to Syria and to Lebanon so we can spread the message of hope and freedom and democracy unfiltered."

Responding to criticism from Congress, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration would slap sanctions on Syria "very soon". "Our goal is to make sure that we take steps that will lead to Syria changing its behaviour, and that's why we're moving forward on implementing the Syria Accountability Act," he told reporters.

A senior administration official, who requested to remain anonymous, said a decision could be announced "in a couple of weeks". Other informed sources said the sanctions might be implemented shortly after the upcoming Arab summit, slated to be held this month in Tunis.