WASHINGTON, Jan 5: The United States is considering imposing new sanctions on Syria to force it to crack down on Iraqis in Syria accused of providing support to the Iraqi guerillas, The New York Times said on Wednesday
, quoting top US counter-terrorism officials.
The officials said Syria had not taken action against the network of Iraqis, despite months of quiet protests from the United States, including a weekend visit to the Syrian capital by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
The officials said that under consideration was a ban on US dealings with the Commercial Bank of Syria, the country's single government-owned financial institution specializing in foreign exchange.
In May the US Treasury Department charged the bank with laundering money that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is accused of diverting from the UN-run oil-for-food program while he was in power.
Syria has long been subjected to economic sanctions for being on a US list of state sponsors of terrorism, and early last year, the White House imposed additional sanctions banning the export of most goods - excluding food and medicine, and all commercial flights to and from Syria.
The Syrian government has complained that the United States has not provided sufficient accurate information on Iraqis active on its territory who allegedly support the resistance in their homeland.
"We have told the Americans to please give us any information you have regarding this subject, but some of the information has not been credible," spokesman Ammar Alarsan of the Syrian Embassy in Washington was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
A senior US counter terrorism expert told the daily that Syria's measures against the agitators were unsatisfactory. "More and more, we're seeing groups funded and supported by former regime elements, and they are operating out of and with the support of the Syrian government," the official said.
The official said that although he was not accusing Damascus of providing direct support to the resistance, "we haven't yet seen them take appropriate action to prevent the funding and the transport of weapons".
The ultraconservative Washington Times in its editorial on Wednesday criticized Mr Armitage's conciliatory tone toward Syria - he said his talks were "candid, serious, realistic" and that Syria had made "some real improvements in recent months on border security".
"Mr Armitage's performance was an unfortunate one, because the behaviour of the Syrian regime does not merit gentle treatment. Far from it, Syria should be read the riot act," said the Washington Times. -AFP
