US to impose sanctions on Syria in near future: spokesman

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 27, 2004

US to impose sanctions on Syria in near future: spokesman

The United States would impose sanctions on Syria "in the very near future," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a news briefing on Friday.

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The United States would impose sanctions on Syria "in the very near future," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a news briefing on Friday.

"We never gave a precise timing of this. We said we were looking to make these decisions and come out with an announcement in the very near future," Boucher said when asked if the United States would postpone the sanctions on Syria to mid-April.

"The process of decision-making is under way but no final decisions have been made," Boucher said.

There was no lack of dialogue between the United States and Syria, but "there needs to be a change in Syrian behavior," Boucher said.

"They can not expect dialogue to lead anywhere if Syria is going to continue to support the activities of violent groups, allow the representatives of terrorist groups to have place in their capital, or not police the border, not take up their responsibilities via-a-vis Iraq," Boucher said.

The New York Times reported Friday that the Bush Administration was expected to put economic sanctions on Syria as early as next week, but there was an internal debate over whether the move will undercut the administration's outreach to Arab nations.

The United States must wait until tempers have cooled in the region over Israel's assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Yassin, and until more time can be given for an American-backed initiative to encourage political and economic reform in Arab nations, the report said.

The United States is hoping to promote the Greater Middle East Initiative to foster democratic, free-market reforms in Arab nations, with a free Iraq at its center. The move has been criticized by some European and Arab nations.

There has been a surge of anti-US demonstrations especially in Arab and Muslim countries following Israel's killing of Yassin. Though the United States has taken pains to deny that it gave green light for Israel to kill Yassin, the close relationship between the two countries inevitably made the United States a target for revenge.

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