US Sanctions Against Syria

The content you are reading reflects the official view of the US government. The United States imposes sanctions on the Syrian government, including a ban on the export of American products, except for food and medicine. This action follows months of diplomatic efforts aimed at convincing Syria to end its support for terrorism and its occupation of Lebanon, as well as to cease efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Syria politically and materially supports terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which seek to eliminate the state of Israel. Other terrorist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, also operate from Syria. Syria allows Iran to use Damascus as a transit point for delivering weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976 and have maintained a significant military presence there. Syria's actions in Lebanon contradict the 1989 agreement that called for the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty. On the night of the US-led coalition's attack on Iraq, Syria sent military supplies to Saddam Hussein's regime. Richard Boucher, the US State Department spokesperson, states that Syria continues to undermine stability and reconstruction efforts in Iraq: 'In some of those areas, we have seen operations ongoing, we raised the issue with the Syrians, but we received no serious and comprehensive response. We never felt that Syria had adapted itself to the new realities, and as a result, we repeatedly said that our relations would suffer, and we saw this situation when the US Congress proposed the sanctions law. The President decided to sign it, and it is now being implemented.' Richard Boucher also mentions that the US still hopes Syria will cease its support for terrorist groups and adopt policies that could make it a stable and coordinated member of the region.