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State Department Ratchets Up Pressure on Syria

(Forward) Damascus will face a sharp escalation of American pressure if it fails to act quickly to halt its support of terrorist groups, the State Department's top Syria expert warned last week. The Bush administration is "closely following" Syria's behavior, said Stephen Seche, director of the Syria, Lebanon and Jordan desk in the State Department's Near Eastern affairs bureau, because of America's "belief that the moment has come for Damascus to make a fundamental shift in the way it approaches regional affairs." "Inaction by Damascus, or even worse, a continued evidence of behavior which is negative and destabilizing, will result in a continuation of negative dialogue, dimensions of pressure that will continue to be applied on the government of Syria," Seche said. At the same forum, former assistant secretary of state Martin Indyk said that previous administrations had erred in not acting long ago to demand that Syria shut down the terrorist offices operating in its capital.
2003-05-27 00:00:00
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