WASHINGTON, Nov 12: The US Congress on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved tough new sanctions on Syria for its alleged ties to extremists and purported efforts to obtain nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

The measure received final approval from the Senate in a vote of 89 to four.

“This bill ... adds to the tools available to the president to move Syria toward a more responsible course,” said Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on the Senate floor.

The legislation, the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act, also calls on Damascus to end its “occupation” of Lebanon.

The House approved the measure last month by a vote of 398 to four.

President George Bush last month ended two years of opposition to the legislation, and has indicated he will sign it.

The legislation gives the White House a range of options for sanctioning Syria, from restricting US exports and business investment to downgrading Washington’s diplomatic representation and imposing travel restrictions on Syrian diplomats in the United States.

The bill also bans the export of “dual-use” technology, and allows the US government to freeze Syria’s assets in the United States and restrict overflight rights for Syrian aircraft inside US airspace.

West Virginia’s Robert Byrd, who along with three other senators voted against the measure, said that while he is critical of Damascus, he feared the vote “could later be used to build a case for a military intervention against Syria”.

“The bill speaks of ‘hostile actions’ by Syria against US-led forces in Iraq,” said Senator Byrd.

“I have not seen any evidence that would lead me to believe that it is the government of Syria that is responsible for the attacks against our troops in Iraq,” the West Virginia Democrat said.

“Such insinuations can only build the case for military action against Syria, which, unfortunately, is a very real possibility because of the dangerous doctrine of pre-emption created by the Bush administration,” said the senator, an outspoken critic of US Middle East policy, particularly in Iraq.—AFP