ON TUESDAY US President George W Bush announced sanctions on Syria, charging Damascus with supporting terrorism, failing to prevent insurgents from entering Iraq and pursuing weapons of mass destruction, reports Dina Ezzat. Bush stated that Syria's actions "constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States". The new sanctions come in addition to existing anti-terrorism sanctions imposed on Syria which have resulted in an almost total ban on trade with the US and vest the US government with the power to freeze Syrian assets in the United States. They also underline an existing restriction on Syrian flights accessing American airports. In an immediate response, Syrian Prime Minister Mohamed Naji Otri said late Tuesday that the sanctions were "unjust and unjustified". Otri called on Washington to "reverse its decision" to avoid provoking Syrian anger. In an interview printed yesterday in the Spanish El Pais, Syrian President Bashar Al- Assad accused the US of being "a source of instability in the Middle East". Syrian officials argued that the sanctions have very little economic impact on their country in view of the modest nature of current Syrian-US economic ties but they acknowledged the tough political impact of the sanctions on Syria's image. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly yesterday, Arab diplomats in Cairo shared the Syrian view. They also expressed their concern that this move would further aggravate relations between the US and Arab countries. For many the imposition of sanctions on Syria could not have come at a worse moment. Coming in the wake of the scandal of US abuse of Iraqi detainees and the furore caused by the new US position that explicitly undermines the Palestinians' right of return and to restore occupied territories, the US sanctions are seen by Arab diplomats as a move by the Bush administration to curry favour with key electoral groups in the upcoming presidential elections. "This move cannot be seen away from the other negative developments in Arab-American relations," Hesham Youssef, chief staff of Arab League secretary-general told the Weekly. According to Youssef, such steps could only have a negative impact on Arab-American relations. "The Arab side has always established that sanctions are not the way to handle differences and disagreements. We have always preached dialogue." Meanwhile, Arab capitals were not quick in condemning the sanctions. As the Weekly went to press, only Beirut had formulated an official reaction. Lebanese President Emil Lahoud qualified the sanctions as "wrong in content and time".
