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United States Imposes Economic Sanctions on Syria By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — The United States yesterday imposed several new economic sanctions against Syria for continuing its official support for terrorist groups and for failing to cease its suspected efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, May 11). The two new sanctions include a restriction on U.S. exports except food and medicine and a ban on any Syrian government-owned aircraft from taking off from or landing in the United States. The sanctions were included in the Syria Accountability Act, which U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law late last year after both houses of Congress overwhelmingly approved the bill. The act bans U.S. exports of dual-use items to Syria and requires the president to impose at least two additional sanctions from a list of six diplomatic and economic measures. The act also allows the president to waive the penalties if they would interfere with U.S. national security interests. In a message to Congress yesterday, Bush said he exercised his waiver authority on the new sanctions to allow the export of aircraft components for “purposes of flight safety” and telecommunications equipment and related items to “promote the free flow of information.” Bush also said that he amended the flight ban to allow Syrian officials to continue to travel to the United States on official business, to allow takeoffs and landings during an emergency and to allow overflight rights. According to reports, the sanctions imposed against Damascus are expected to be mostly symbolic based on the relatively low value of U.S.-Syrian trade — about $550 million last year — and the fact that there already were no flights between the two countries. In addition to the sanctions included in the Syria Accountability Act, the White House yesterday announced a freeze on all assets in the United States belonging to “certain” Syrian individuals and government entities, as well as plans to require all U.S. financial institutions to sever ties with the Commercial Bank of Syria “based on money-laundering concerns.” The Commercial Bank of Syria has been implicated in helping to divert more than $1 billion from the U.N. Oil for Food program to the regime of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, according to a U.S. Treasury Department release. The bank is also suspected of having been involved in “numerous transactions” suggesting terrorism financing and money laundering, including some transactions that referenced the “reputed financer” of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, the department said. While warning of possible additional sanctions, Bush said yesterday that the duration of the new measures would be based on Syria’s efforts to improve its record related to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. “The Syrian government must understand that its conduct alone will determine the duration of the sanctions, and the extent to which additional sanctions may be imposed should the Syrian government fail to adopt a more constructive approach to relations with its neighbors, weapons of mass destruction and terrorism,” Bush said. “If the Syrian government demonstrates a genuine intention to seek true peace by confronting terror and violence, ending its pursuit and development of weapons of mass destruction, and respecting the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon, the United States will respond positively,” he added. The White House’s decision to impose sanctions was praised yesterday by bipartisan supporters of the Syria Accountability Act in both houses of Congress. “We have been patient with Damascus, but the Syrian government has failed to take the necessary steps to avoid sanctions. This sends a clear message that the United States will not conduct business as usual with a nation that allows terrorists to operate within their borders,” Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said in a press statement. In a telephone interview with Global Security Newswire, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said the sanctions send “a good message to the entire neighborhood” that governments would be held responsible for their actions. Damascus, today, however, dismissed the sanctions. “The Syrian position says these sanctions are in short of credibility and hard evidence,” the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said. Murhaf Jouejati of the Middle East Institute in Washington told GSN today that while the new sanctions were likely intended as “more of a political measure,” they will do little to influence Damascus’ foreign policy. That is especially true regarding the issue of terrorism, which he described as the “great irritant” in U.S.-Syrian relations. Syria’s position of distinguishing between terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and “legitimate national resistance movements” such as Hezbollah would make it difficult for President Bashar Assad to cease support of all groups the United States views as terrorists for fearing of alienating political supporters both within Damascus and in the greater Arab world, Jouejati said. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher yesterday criticized Syria’s support of militant groups on the basis that they are legitimate political movements. “I’m afraid we don’t think you can play games with terrorism. You can’t talk your way out of it or around it. There are terrorists in this world, Hezbollah and Hamas are among them, and no country should be supporting them,” he said during a departmental press briefing. Jouejati also warned today that the new sanctions could damage U.S.-Syrian relations, describing the move as akin to “shooting one’s self in the foot.” Boucher said yesterday, though, that the United States planned to continue to work with Damascus. “We would still hope that Syria would look at the situation, look at the region around it, stop supporting terrorist groups and adapt its policies to be a stable and harmonious member of that region. That is something we’ll continue to pursue,” he said.
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