Bush Administration Delays Syria Sanctions Due to Increased Middle East Tensions

The Bush administration has delayed imposing new sanctions against Syria due to tensions in the Middle East caused by Israel’s assassination this week of the leader of the militant group Hamas, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, March 18).

The planned sanctions are called for in the Syria Accountability Act, which was signed into law late last year and imposes sanctions against Damascus for its alleged WMD activities and support for terrorism. After weeks of interagency consultations, the Bush administration decided to adopt up to three of the various diplomatic and economic penalties contained in the law, and could announce the new sanctions next week, the Times reported.

While the United States has few commercial ties to Syria, making the anticipated economic sanctions largely symbolic, supporters said they could help deter foreign investment in Syria’s oil industry.

“It’s important to both embarrass Syria as well as hurt their economy,” said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). “The Bush administration has done everything it could to show that Damascus has to change its course,” she said (Christopher Marquis, New York Times, March 26).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.