The White House is turning up threats of sanctions on Damascus for, it says, harboring officials of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime and possessing weapons of mass destruction, after opposing such bills last year.

However, the bill submitted last weekend by New York Representative Eliot Engel, just before the two-week congressional spring recess, does not propose immediate sanctions against Syria.

The bill, which has bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, establishes above all a framework for a renewed effort to force Syria to change its behavior.

"Syria needs to get out of Lebanon, clean out the terrorists and stop building weapons of mass destruction," the bill says.

"It is time for the administration and Congress to get tough with a charter member of the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism," Engel said in a statement.

Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, the number-three Republican in the Senate, said he expects the upper chamber's version of the bill to pass quickly.

Santorum and Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California sponsored a similar Senate bill last year.

Syria has denied possessing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and has expressed doubts as to the real reasons for the United States' stance, which it attributes to Washington's strong support for Israel.

According to Engel's bill, Syria will be held responsible for any attack by Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based group which enjoys the backing of Syria and Iran.

The bill, which could be quickly adopted when members of Congress return at the end of April, would also block all investments and US exports with the exception of medicine and food and would freeze Syrian assets in the United States.

According to congressional leaders quoted in The New York Times Friday, the administration of President George W. Bush will accept the risk of appearing soft on the bill, which, if it becomes law, could limit Washington's maneuvering room with regard to Syria.

SPACE.WIRE