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Last update - 00:00 10/02/2005
U.S. calls in Syrian envoy, hints at sanctions
By Reuters
 

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department called in Syria's ambassador this week and warned him Damascus must stop insurgents from crossing into Iraq and end support for Palestinian militants or risk fresh U.S. sanctions, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
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The warning to Ambassador Emad Moustapha appeared to signal Washington is edging closer to imposing new sanctions on Syria, which Washington accuses of supporting Palestinian militants and of allowing money and arms to flow to insurgents in Iraq.

"You've got to move quickly and you've got to move definitively and it's probably going to take something big to forestall some very unpalatable options," said an official who summarized the message conveyed at the meeting.

While the official did not say what sanctions were being considered, U.S. officials have said they include restrictions that would effectively isolate Syria's banks and prohibit U.S. financial institutions from dealing with them.

U.S.-Syrian relations, always strained, hit a new low in May when Washington slapped economic sanctions on Damascus for its alleged support of terrorism and accused Syria of failing to stop anti-U.S. guerrillas from entering Iraq.

There are about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq trying to quell an insurgency that erupted after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. U.S. officials accuse Syria of allowing arms, money and people to flow into Iraq to support the insurgency.

In one sign of U.S. frustration with Damascus, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized Syria for what she said was its policy of exporting terror and attempting to wreck Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

"It is just not acceptable that Syria would continue to be a place from which terrorists are funded and helped to destroy the very fragile peace process in the Middle East or to change the dynamic of events in Lebanon," Rice said on Tuesday.

A Syrian embassy official declined to confirm the State Department session with Moustapha, saying only that he has regular meetings and telephone discussions with U.S. officials and that a wide range of topics are usually raised.

"The above mentioned topics weren't particularly discussed in the last couple of meetings," the Syrian official said when asked if sanctions, alleged support for the insurgency in Iraq and for Palestinian militant groups had been raised recently.

"The focus was on the possibilities of cooperation in regards to security issues," the Syrian official added.
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