Syria Today | US extends economic sanctions against Syria

US extends economic sanctions against Syria

US President George Bush extended economic sanctions against Syria on May 7 under the charge that Damascus was still a threat to the security, economy and foreign policy of the US.

In an executive order, Bush declared that the export of certain goods to Syria was still prohibited and Syrian assets would remain frozen for another year. “I took these actions to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the US constituted by the actions of the Government of Syria,” Bush said in a statement on May 7.

Bush also repeated US allegations that Syria was undermining international efforts to stabilize Iraq by channeling insurgents into the country. He further accused Damascus of supporting terrorism by “continuing its occupation of Lebanon”, as well as “pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes”.

Syria has vehemently denied all such allegations and accuses US policy of being built around a “campaign of lies”.

Bush first imposed sanctions against Syria on May 11, 2004. The assets of a number of Syrian businessmen were frozen, banking relations with the Commercial Bank of Syria were suspended and Syrian flights to and from the US were banned. Sanctions were extended in April 2006 and again in February 2008 to target Syrian officials allegedly engaged in “public corruption”.

“These sanctions affected the banking and new technology sectors, but they didn’t hurt all domains of the Syrian economy,” Safi Shuja, a Syrian economist, said. “The world is a small village and we can meet our needs through China, Russia and other countries.”