Washington decides to impose sanctions on Syria

The administration of the US President George W. Bush banned all American exports to Syria with the exception of foodstuffs and medicines.

A statement by the White House yesterday said that by implementing these sanctions, President Bush shows the determination of Washington to retaliate to the support given by Damascus to the Palestinian resistance groups and the Lebanese Hizbullah and to maintaining its military presence in Lebanon " and its efforts to get weapons of mass destruction and its work to undermine the American and international efforts to achieve stability in Iraq and rebuilding it."

The sanctions including banning American oil investment companies in Syria, preventing the Syrian airplanes from flying in the American airspace and banning the American exports to Syria with the exception of foodstuffs and medicines.

The decision came after members in the US congress threatened to issue a decision imposing " tough sanctions against Damascus equal to that of "Iraq liberation law." Bush had signed Syria's accountability law in December 2003 but decided to postpone imposing the sanctions under the care of not escalating tension during the visit of each the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Jordanian King Abdullah II to Washington.

In a first Syrian reaction, the Syrian prime minister Muhammad Naji Otari in a press conference considered the decision as "unjustified measure." Earlier in the day, Otari said that imposing the sanctions will be damaging to the American interests, calling for more dialogue. He said that Syria is able to withstand these challenges and to eliminate its consequences the same as it is able to continue the process of building up and carry out its program and developmental plans.