Washington May Delay Implementing Syria Sanctions Law

The Bush administration might delay imposing new economic sanctions against Syria to give Damascus more time to comply with demands to end the activities of terrorist groups within its borders and to prevent militants and weapons from entering Iraq, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 13).

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Bush administration is considering how to implement the Syria Accountability Act, a law created last year that that requires Syria to suffer economic penalties if it fails to end its alleged WMD activities and official support for terrorism. While the administration is frustrated with Syria, Damascus may be given as much as six months to comply with U.S. demands before the sanctions called for in the law are imposed, a State Department official said (Salamander Davoudi, Financial Times, Feb. 20).

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