By Michael Freund, International Affairs Correspondent
The White House has begun exploring the possibility of imposing an array of economic sanctions on Lebanon’s new government, which it views as being a puppet regime installed by neighboring Syria, a Lebanese newspaper reports.
Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, the Beirut Daily Star says that the US Treasury Department’s Counter-Terrorism Office has begun compiling data on US-based Lebanese investors, with an eye towards possibly freezing their assets. “But this is not likely to be the only sanction targeting Lebanon; other sanctions are under study”, sources told the paper.
The Bush Administration is showing increasing impatience with Syria and Lebanon over their refusal to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1559. The resolution, which was adopted back in September, called upon Syria to withdraw its estimated 15,000 troops from Lebanon and stop meddling in the country’s internal affairs.
On October 19, the Council issued a statement calling on the two countries to comply with the resolution, a call they immediately rejected as “interference” in their internal affairs.
The response from Washington has been swift. A new cabinet installed by Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karameh last week was publicly ridiculed by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who told an Arab newspaper that it was “made in Damascus”.
Then, in an interview with the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield warned that additional sanctions might be imposed on Syria as well. "The American president has available a number of measures he could take and which would have an effect on the United States' economic, financial and commercial relations with Syria," Satterfield said, adding, "The United States is extremely worried by the current situation in Lebanon because of Syrian interference."
In May 2004, the US imposed economic sanctions on Syria for its involvement in terrorism and its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The Syrian regime has also been accused of aiding the insurgency in Iraq by allowing fighters to cross its frontier to fight against American troops stationed there.
The White House has begun exploring the possibility of imposing an array of economic sanctions on Lebanon’s new government, which it views as being a puppet regime installed by neighboring Syria, a Lebanese newspaper reports.
Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, the Beirut Daily Star says that the US Treasury Department’s Counter-Terrorism Office has begun compiling data on US-based Lebanese investors, with an eye towards possibly freezing their assets. “But this is not likely to be the only sanction targeting Lebanon; other sanctions are under study”, sources told the paper.
The Bush Administration is showing increasing impatience with Syria and Lebanon over their refusal to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1559. The resolution, which was adopted back in September, called upon Syria to withdraw its estimated 15,000 troops from Lebanon and stop meddling in the country’s internal affairs.
On October 19, the Council issued a statement calling on the two countries to comply with the resolution, a call they immediately rejected as “interference” in their internal affairs.
The response from Washington has been swift. A new cabinet installed by Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karameh last week was publicly ridiculed by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who told an Arab newspaper that it was “made in Damascus”.
Then, in an interview with the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield warned that additional sanctions might be imposed on Syria as well. "The American president has available a number of measures he could take and which would have an effect on the United States' economic, financial and commercial relations with Syria," Satterfield said, adding, "The United States is extremely worried by the current situation in Lebanon because of Syrian interference."
In May 2004, the US imposed economic sanctions on Syria for its involvement in terrorism and its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The Syrian regime has also been accused of aiding the insurgency in Iraq by allowing fighters to cross its frontier to fight against American troops stationed there.