LOC09:17
06:17 GMT
WASHINGTON, Feb 29 (KUNA) -- A senior US official has indicated Washington
will continue to exercise anti-Syria sanctions saying Damascus should be
punished for its role in Lebanon and Iraq.
"We have every reason to believe that continued pressure on the Syrian
government, in the type that was announced by the US Treasury Department, is
the right way to go for our country," said the US Undersecretary of State for
Political Affairs, Nicolas Burns, referring to the Treasury department's
action to freeze the assets Syrian President Bashar al Assad's cousin, Rami
Makhluf, on the grounds that he was involved in public corruption.
"Syria needs to understand it needs to play by the rules in the Middle East,
" said Burns, late on Thursday -- and cited the treasury acted with good
reason.
The US accuses Syria of sponsoring terrorist groups in Iraq, meddling in
Lebanon's political affairs and it's close relations with Lebanese Hezbollah,
a party with close ties with Iran that has been listed as a terrorist
organization by the US.
"We have been disturbed to see the union between Syria and Iran in support
of some of the most vicious terrorist groups in the Middle East" like
Hezbollah, according to Burns, who characterized the countries and terrorist
organizations as quite "nefarious."
Both Iran and Syria's presence in the region "runs counter to the hopes and
dreams that Lebanon may be free and independent from Syria's domination; that
the moderate Palestinians will have a chance to seek peace with Israel; that
the people of Iraq should be free of the terrorism that Iran has been fueling
by sending sophisticated explosive technology to Shiite terrorist groups,"
Burns said. (end)
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