U.S. Seems Sure of the Hand of Syria, Hinting at Penalties
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN - The New York Times
Published: February 15, 2005

ASHINGTON, Feb. 14 - The Bush administration, condemning the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in Lebanon, suggested Monday that Syria was to blame and moved to get a new condemnation of Syria's domination of Lebanon at the United Nations Security Council.

American and European officials also said the administration was studying the possibility of tougher sanctions on Syria, effectively tightening penalties imposed in May, when Washington said the Syrian government had failed to act against militant groups in Israel and against a supply line from Syria to the insurgents in Iraq.

"We condemn this brutal attack in the strongest possible terms," said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, adding that the killing was "a terrible reminder that the Lebanese people must be able to pursue their aspirations and determine their own political future free from violence and intimidation and free from Syrian occupation."

American officials said the killing was an ominous development on two counts: first, because it raised concern that Lebanon could plunge back into the civil war that it suffered throughout the 1980's, and second, because it underscored growing American impatience with the role played by Syria in the Middle East.

Mr. McClellan and other administration spokesmen said they had no concrete evidence of Syria's involvement in the killing of Mr. Hariri, a prominent opposition leader and critic of Syria's role in Lebanon, who died along with at least 11 others when a car bomb blew up next to his motorcade in Beirut.

And in fact the Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, speaking at a news conference in Damascus, also condemned the attack.

But the target of the American criticism was unmistakable, as several officials condemned Syria's role in Lebanon as part of their comments on the attack.

"We're going to turn up the heat on Syria, that's for sure," said a senior State Department official. "It's been a pretty steady progression of pressure up to now, but I think it's going to spike in the wake of this event. Even though there's no evidence to link it to Syria, Syria has, by negligence or design, allowed Lebanon to become destabilized."

At the United Nations, the Security Council called for a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the bombing, but there was some doubt that the Council would vote to condemn Syria by name. In a resolution passed last year to condemn Syria's role in Lebanon, Syria was not specifically mentioned; there was only a reference to foreign forces in Lebanon.

Syria has effectively controlled Lebanon since it moved troops into the country in 1976, at the outset of the civil war. In 1981 Syria forced the Beirut government to sign a treaty declaring that Syria would play the dominant role in its foreign policy.

In the view of American analysts, Syria has in turn done the bidding of Iran, using Syrian territory to support Hezbollah, a major presence in Lebanon, and other Islamic groups that have attacked Israel.

The United States has focused mounting attention on Iran in recent weeks, both because of its suspected nuclear arms program and because of its support of groups trying to disrupt a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A Western diplomat said the United States, in condemning Syria's possible role in the Beirut attack, may also be trying to rebuke Iran, signaling that American tolerance of such behavior was diminishing. On the other hand, there are few sanctions available that the United States has not already imposed on Syria.

Western diplomats have sometimes suggested that Syria is "low-hanging fruit" in the campaign against terrorists: a nation that could be punished by further isolation and sanctions because its economy is in poor shape. Iran, by contrast, is awash in oil revenues, and the difficulties of mounting an international campaign against it are becoming increasingly obvious as Europeans call for engagement with Iran rather than confrontation.

Some in the Bush administration have argued for the last two years that Syria's role has not always been destructive. In particular, some at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have credited Syria with cracking down on some anti-Western militant groups and also with trying at least partly to stop the flow of arms and financing to insurgents in Iraq.

That more benign view of Syria has lost favor, however, administration officials say. Earlier this year, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage traveled to Syria and gave what a senior official said Monday was a very stern warning to do more to stop the Iraq insurgency and aid to militant anti-Israel groups.

"He went with a pretty tough message, because pressure is building in the administration to do something," said the official. "We've seen some cooperation on the border with the Iraqis and some repatriation of some of the Iraqi money. But there's not been nearly enough action to make us satisfied."

Last May President Bush barred virtually all American exports to Syria, except for food and medicine, and barred flights between Syria and the United States, except for emergencies. The Treasury Department also moved to freeze assets of Syrians with ties to terrorists, lethal weapons or the Lebanon occupation.

But those actions were described even in the administration as symbolic. Critics of Syria in Congress, including Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who sponsored a Congressional act calling for punishment of Syria, want a ban on exports or American investments in Syria.

Administration officials have raised the pressure on Syria since President Bush's Inaugural Address and the Congressional testimony of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings, when she called Syria one of several "outposts of tyranny" in the world.


****Warren Hoge contributed reporting from the United Nations for this article, and Richard W. Stevenson from Washington.