Inal Ersan, Reuters  --  Arab News

DAMASCUS, 20 June 2004 — More than half of the members of Syria’s legislature have signed a bill that seeks curbs against US interests, a month after Washington imposed sanctions against Damascus, Syrian sources said late Friday.

The measure comes in response to economic sanctions imposed by Washington against Damascus mainly for supporting anti-Israel groups, the sources said.

It also is a reaction to “US policies in the region and its unlimited support and bias toward Israeli policies and practices”, one source said.

The measure signed by about 130 of Parliament’s 250 members seeks the imposition of unspecified “strict restrictions on US interests in Syria”, said a source familiar with the bill.

The proposed law that is expected to be debated by the house on June 27 would authorize the government to decide appropriate measures against US interests, the sources said without giving further details.

The volume of trade between non-OPEC oil exporter Syria and the United States is modest with transactions between the two sides amounting to around $300 million last year.

Syria has said a deal with a PetroCanada lead consortium, including US Occidental Petroleum, on developing the $600-$700 million Palmyra gas project could be closed within months.

The biggest current US investment in Syria is ConocoPhillips gas project, in which it has a 50 percent share of a service contract with France’s Total. The contract expires at the end of 2005 and ConocoPhillips has said it will end operations in Syria.

Syria sells about 10,000-20,000 barrels per day of crude to US ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil via annual contracts, which will come up for renewal at the end of this year, oil traders say.

Syrian Oil Minister Ibrahim Haddad said earlier this month that Damascus continues to sell oil to US companies and encourage US investment in its energy sector, despite Washington’s unilateral sanctions.

In May, US President George W. Bush imposed sanctions that ban exports except for food and medicine, freeze assets of Syrians and Syrian entities suspected of links to terror or weapons of mass destruction and ban Syrian flights to and from the United States.

The US sanctions exclude energy investment although Washington has said they could be tightened in the future.

The Arab nation, which has said US interests would suffer if Washington imposed sanctions, denies giving more than political support to militants, who it says are fighting Israeli occupation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Syria, which says it wants dialogue with Washington, has dismissed the sanctions as unjust and unwarranted measures.