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Source: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030622-051337-6283r
Holding Syria Accountable
(UPI) - Claude Salhani Syria's opponents last week attained majority backing in the U.S. Senate, with 51 votes, to pass the Syria Accountability Act. The bill - S.982 - calls on Syria to halt its support of terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop its development of weapons of mass destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil, and holds Syria accountable for its role in the Middle East. Syria will face a tough time," cautioned a Jordanian government official who called the political stance adopted by President Bashar Assad, "unreasonable." Syria considers Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizballah as liberation movements. But according to well-informed Palestinian sources, the vast majority of suicide bombings carried out by Hamas and IJ are conceived and ordered from offices outside the territories, mainly in Damascus and Beirut. Last May, Assad assured Secretary of State Powell that offices run by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others in the Syrian capital had indeed been shut down. Yet, according to the Jordanian official, the offices remain open.