108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1828

AN ACT

To halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, and stop its development of

weapons of mass destruction, and by so doinghold Syria accountable for the serious international security problems it has caused in theMiddle East, and for other purposes.

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1828

AN ACT

To halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation

of Lebanon, and stop its development of weapons of

mass destruction, and by so doing hold Syria accountable

for the serious international security problems it has

caused in the Middle East, and for other purposes.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Syria Accountability

5 and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) On September 20, 2001, President George

9 Bush stated at a joint session of Congress that

10 ‘‘[e]very nation, in every region, now has a decision

11 to make . . . [e]ither you are with us, or you are

12 with the terrorists . . . [f]rom this day forward, any

13 nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism

14 will be regarded by the United States as a hostile re15 gime’’.

16 (2) On June 24, 2002, President Bush stated

17 ‘‘Syria must choose the right side in the war on ter18 ror by closing terrorist camps and expelling terrorist

19 organizations’’.

20 (3) United Nations Security Council Resolution

21 1373 (September 28, 2001) mandates that all states

22 ‘‘refrain from providing any form of support, active

23 or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist

24 acts’’, take ‘‘the necessary steps to prevent the com25 mission of terrorist acts’’, and ‘‘deny safe haven to
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1 those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist

2 acts’’.

3 (4) The Government of Syria is currently pro4 hibited by United States law from receiving United

5 States assistance because it has repeatedly provided

6 support for acts of international terrorism, as deter7 mined by the Secretary of State for purposes of sec8 tion 6(j)(1) of the Export Administration Act of

9 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)) and other rel10 evant provisions of law.

11 (5) Although the Department of State lists

12 Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism and reports

13 that Syria provides ‘‘safe haven and support to sev14 eral terrorist groups’’, fewer United States sanctions

15 apply with respect to Syria than with respect to any

16 other country that is listed as a state sponsor of ter17 rorism.

18 (6) Terrorist groups, including Hizballah,

19 Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular

20 Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Pop21 ular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General

22 Command, maintain offices, training camps, and

23 other facilities on Syrian territory, and operate in

24 areas of Lebanon occupied by the Syrian armed

25 forces and receive supplies from Iran through Syria.
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1 (7) United Nations Security Council Resolution

2 520 (September 17, 1982) calls for ‘‘strict respect of

3 the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and polit4 ical independence of Lebanon under the sole and ex5 clusive authority of the Government of Lebanon

6 through the Lebanese Army throughout Lebanon’’.

7 (8) Approximately 20,000 Syrian troops and se8 curity personnel occupy much of the sovereign terri9 tory of Lebanon exerting undue influence upon its

10 government and undermining its political independ11 ence.

12 (9) Since 1990 the Senate and House of Rep13 resentatives have passed seven bills and resolutions

14 which call for the withdrawal of Syrian armed forces

15 from Lebanon.

16 (10) On March 3, 2003, Secretary of State

17 Colin Powell declared that it is the objective of the

18 United States to ‘‘let Lebanon be ruled by the Leba19 nese people without the presence of [the Syrian] oc20 cupation army’’.

21 (11) Large and increasing numbers of the Leb22 anese people from across the political spectrum in

23 Lebanon have mounted peaceful and democratic

24 calls for the withdrawal of the Syrian Army from

25 Lebanese soil.
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1 (12) Israel has withdrawn all of its armed

2 forces from Lebanon in accordance with United Na3 tions Security Council Resolution 425 (March 19,

4 1978), as certified by the United Nations Secretary

5 General.

6 (13) Even in the face of this United Nations

7 certification that acknowledged Israel’s full compli8 ance with Security Council Resolution 425, Syrian9 and Iranian-supported Hizballah continues to attack

10 Israeli outposts at Shebaa Farms, under the pre11 tense that Shebaa Farms is territory from which

12 Israel was required to withdraw by Security Counsel

13 Resolution 425, and Syrian- and Iranian-supported

14 Hizballah and other militant organizations continue

15 to attack civilian targets in Israel.

16 (14) Syria will not allow Lebanon—a sovereign

17 country—to fulfill its obligation in accordance with

18 Security Council Resolution 425 to deploy its troops

19 to southern Lebanon.

20 (15) As a result, the Israeli-Lebanese border

21 and much of southern Lebanon is under the control

22 of Hizballah, which continues to attack Israeli posi23 tions, allows Iranian Revolutionary Guards and

24 other militant groups to operate freely in the area,
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1 and maintains thousands of rockets along Israel’s

2 northern border, destabilizing the entire region.

3 (16) On February 12, 2003, Director of Central

4 Intelligence George Tenet stated the following with

5 respect to the Syrian- and Iranian-supported

6 Hizballah: ‘‘[A]s an organization with capability and

7 worldwide presence [it] is [al Qaeda’s] equal if not

8 a far more capable organization . . . [T]hey’re a

9 notch above in many respects, in terms of in their

10 relationship with the Iranians and the training they

11 receive, [which] puts them in a state-sponsored cat12 egory with a potential for lethality that’s quite

13 great.’’.

14 (17) In the State of the Union address on Jan15 uary 29, 2002, President Bush declared that the

16 United States will ‘‘work closely with our coalition to

17 deny terrorists and their state sponsors the mate18 rials, technology, and expertise to make and deliver

19 weapons of mass destruction’’.

20 (18) The Government of Syria continues to de21 velop and deploy short- and medium-range ballistic

22 missiles.

23 (19) According to the December 2001 unclassi24 fied Central Intelligence Agency report entitled

25 ‘‘Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic
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1 Missile Threat through 2015’’, ‘‘Syria maintains a

2 ballistic missile and rocket force of hundreds of

3 FROG rockets, Scuds, and SS–21 SRBMs [and]

4 Syria has developed [chemical weapons] warheads

5 for its Scuds’’.

6 (20) The Government of Syria is pursuing the

7 development and production of biological and chem8 ical weapons and has a nuclear research and devel9 opment program that is cause for concern.

10 (21) According to the Central Intelligence

11 Agency’s ‘‘Unclassified Report to Congress on the

12 Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of

13 Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Muni14 tions’’, released January 7, 2003: ‘‘[Syria] already

15 holds a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin but appar16 ently is trying to develop more toxic and persistent

17 nerve agents. Syria remains dependent on foreign

18 sources for key elements of its [chemical weapons]

19 program, including precursor chemicals and key pro20 duction equipment. It is highly probable that Syria

21 also is developing an offensive [biological weapons]

22 capability.’’.

23 (22) On May 6, 2002, the Under Secretary of

24 State for Arms Control and International Security,

25 John Bolton, stated: ‘‘The United States also knows
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1 that Syria has long had a chemical warfare program.

2 It has a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin and is en3 gaged in research and development of the more toxic

4 and persistent nerve agent VX. Syria, which has

5 signed but not ratified the [Biological Weapons Con6 vention], is pursuing the development of biological

7 weapons and is able to produce at least small

8 amounts of biological warfare agents.’’.

9 (23) According to the Central Intelligence

10 Agency’s ‘‘Unclassified Report to Congress on the

11 Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of

12 Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Muni13 tions’’, released January 7, 2003: ‘‘Russia and Syria

14 have approved a draft cooperative program on co15 operation on civil nuclear power. In principal, broad16 er access to Russian expertise provides opportunities

17 for Syria to expand its indigenous capabilities,

18 should it decide to pursue nuclear weapons.’’.

19 (24) Under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation

20 of Nuclear Weapons (21 UST 483), which entered

21 force on March 5, 1970, and to which Syria is a

22 party, Syria has undertaken not to acquire or

23 produce nuclear weapons and has accepted full scope

24 safeguards of the International Atomic Energy

25 Agency to detect diversions of nuclear materials
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1 from peaceful activities to the production of nuclear

2 weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

3 (25) Syria is not a party to the Chemical Weap4 ons Convention or the Biological Weapons Conven5 tion, which entered into force on April 29, 1997, and

6 on March 26, 1975, respectively.

7 (26) Syrian President Bashar Assad promised

8 Secretary of State Powell in February 2001 to end

9 violations of Security Council Resolution 661, which

10 restricted the sale of oil and other commodities by

11 Saddam Hussein’s regime, except to the extent au12 thorized by other relevant resolutions, but this

13 pledge was never fulfilled.

14 (27) Syria’s illegal imports and transshipments

15 of Iraqi oil during Saddam Hussein’s regime earned

16 Syria $50,000,000 or more per month as Syria con17 tinued to sell its own Syrian oil at market prices.

18 (28) Syria’s illegal imports and transshipments

19 of Iraqi oil earned Saddam Hussein’s regime

20 $2,000,000 per day.

21 (29) The Government of Syria also utilized the

22 railway network linking Mosul, Iraq, to Aleppo,

23 Syria, to transfer a wide range of weaponry and

24 weapon systems to Saddam Hussein’s regime.
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1 (30) On March 28, 2003, Secretary of Defense

2 Donald Rumsfeld warned: ‘‘[W]e have information

3 that shipments of military supplies have been cross4 ing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night5 vision goggles . . . These deliveries pose a direct

6 threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider

7 such trafficking as hostile acts, and will hold the

8 Syrian government accountable for such ship9 ments.’’.

10 (31) According to Article 23(1) of the United

11 Nations Charter, members of the United Nations are

12 elected as nonpermanent members of the United Na13 tions Security Council with ‘‘due regard being spe14 cially paid, in the first instance to the contribution

15 of members of the United Nations to the mainte16 nance of international peace and security and to

17 other purposes of the Organization’’.

18 (32) Despite Article 23(1) of the United Na19 tions Charter, Syria was elected on October 8, 2001,

20 to a 2-year term as a nonpermanent member of the

21 United Nations Security Council beginning January

22 1, 2002, and served as President of the Security

23 Council during June 2002 and August 2003.

24 (33) On March 31, 2003, the Syrian Foreign

25 Minister, Farouq al-Sharra, made the Syrian re-
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1 gime’s intentions clear when he explicitly stated that

2 ‘‘Syria’s interest is to see the invaders defeated in

3 Iraq’’.

4 (34) On April 13, 2003, Secretary of Defense

5 Donald Rumsfeld charged that ‘‘busloads’’ of Syrian

6 fighters entered Iraq with ‘‘hundreds of thousands

7 of dollars’’ and leaflets offering rewards for dead

8 American soldiers.

9 (35) On September 16, 2003, the Under Sec10 retary of State for Arms Control and International

11 Security, John Bolton, appeared before the Sub12 committee on the Middle East and Central Asia of

13 the Committee on International Relations of the

14 House of Representatives, and underscored Syria’s

15 ‘‘hostile actions’’ toward coalition forces during Op16 eration Iraqi Freedom. Under Secretary Bolton

17 added that: ‘‘Syria allowed military equipment to

18 flow into Iraq on the eve of and during the war.

19 Syria permitted volunteers to pass into Iraq to at20 tack and kill our service members during the war,

21 and is still doing so . . . [Syria’s] behavior during

22 Operation Iraqi Freedom underscores the impor23 tance of taking seriously reports and information on

24 Syria’s WMD capabilities.’’.
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1 (36) During his appearance before the Com2 mittee on International Relations of the House of

3 Representatives on September 25, 2003, Ambas4 sador L. Paul Bremer, III, Administrator of the Co5 alition Provisional Authority in Iraq, stated that out

6 of the 278 third-country nationals who were cap7 tured by coalition forces in Iraq, the ‘‘single largest

8 group are Syrians’’.

9 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

10 It is the sense of Congress that—

11 (1) the Government of Syria should imme12 diately and unconditionally halt support for ter13 rorism, permanently and openly declare its total re14 nunciation of all forms of terrorism, and close all

15 terrorist offices and facilities in Syria, including the

16 offices of Hamas, Hizballah, Palestinian Islamic

17 Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Pal18 estine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of

19 Palestine–General Command;

20 (2) the Government of Syria should—

21 (A) immediately and unconditionally stop

22 facilitating transit from Syria to Iraq of individ23 uals, military equipment, and all lethal items,

24 except as authorized by the Coalition Provi-
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1 sional Authority or a representative, inter2 nationally recognized Iraqi government;

3 (B) cease its support for ‘‘volunteers’’ and

4 terrorists who are traveling from and through

5 Syria into Iraq to launch attacks; and

6 (C) undertake concrete, verifiable steps to

7 deter such behavior and control the use of terri8 tory under Syrian control;

9 (3) the Government of Syria should imme10 diately declare its commitment to completely with11 draw its armed forces, including military, para12 military, and security forces, from Lebanon, and set

13 a firm timetable for such withdrawal;

14 (4) the Government of Lebanon should deploy

15 the Lebanese armed forces to all areas of Lebanon,

16 including South Lebanon, in accordance with United

17 Nations Security Council Resolution 520 (September

18 17, 1982), in order to assert the sovereignty of the

19 Lebanese state over all of its territory, and should

20 evict all terrorist and foreign forces from southern

21 Lebanon, including Hizballah and the Iranian Revo22 lutionary Guards;

23 (5) the Government of Syria should halt the de24 velopment and deployment of medium- and long25 range surface-to-surface missiles and cease the de-
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1 velopment and production of biological and chemical

2 weapons;

3 (6) the Governments of Lebanon and Syria

4 should enter into serious unconditional bilateral ne5 gotiations with the Government of Israel in order to

6 realize a full and permanent peace;

7 (7) the United States should continue to pro8 vide humanitarian and educational assistance to the

9 people of Lebanon only through appropriate private,

10 nongovernmental organizations and appropriate

11 international organizations, until such time as the

12 Government of Lebanon asserts sovereignty and con13 trol over all of its territory and borders and achieves

14 full political independence, as called for in United

15 Nations Security Council Resolution 520; and

16 (8) as a violator of several key United Nations

17 Security Council resolutions and as a nation that

18 pursues policies which undermine international peace

19 and security, Syria should not have been permitted

20 to join the United Nations Security Council or serve

21 as the Security Council’s President, and should be

22 removed from the Security Council.

23 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

24 It is the policy of the United States that—
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1 (1) Syria will be held responsible for attacks

2 committed by Hizballah and other terrorist groups

3 with offices, training camps, or other facilities in

4 Syria, or bases in areas of Lebanon occupied by

5 Syria;

6 (2) the United States shall impede Syria’s abil7 ity to support acts of international terrorism and ef8 forts to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruc9 tion;

10 (3) the Secretary of State will continue to list

11 Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism until Syria

12 ends its support for terrorism, including its support

13 of Hizballah and other terrorist groups in Lebanon

14 and its hosting of terrorist groups in Damascus, and

15 comes into full compliance with United States law

16 relating to terrorism and United Nations Security

17 Council Resolution 1373 (September 28, 2001);

18 (4) efforts against Hizballah will be expanded

19 given the recognition that Hizballah is equally or

20 more capable than al Qaeda;

21 (5) the full restoration of Lebanon’s sov22 ereignty, political independence, and territorial in23 tegrity is in the national security interest of the

24 United States;
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1 (6) Syria is in violation of United Nations Se2 curity Council Resolution 520 (September 17, 1982)

3 through its continued occupation of Lebanese terri4 tory and its encroachment upon Lebanon’s political

5 independence;

6 (7) Syria’s obligation to withdraw from Leb7 anon is not conditioned upon progress in the Israeli8 Syrian or Israeli-Lebanese peace process but derives

9 from Syria’s obligation under Security Council Reso10 lution 520;

11 (8) Syria’s acquisition of weapons of mass de12 struction and ballistic missile programs threaten the

13 security of the Middle East and the national security

14 interests of the United States;

15 (9) Syria will be held accountable for any harm

16 to Coalition armed forces or to any United States

17 citizen in Iraq due to its facilitation of terrorist ac18 tivities and its shipments of military supplies to

19 Iraq; and

20 (10) the United States will not provide any as21 sistance to Syria and will oppose multilateral assist22 ance for Syria until Syria ends all support for ter23 rorism, withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon,

24 and halts the development and deployment of weap-
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1 ons of mass destruction and medium- and long2 range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.

3 SEC. 5. PENALTIES AND AUTHORIZATION.

4 (a) PENALTIES.—Until the President makes the de5 termination that Syria meets all the requirements de6 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (d)

7 and certifies such determination to Congress in accord8 ance with such subsection—

9 (1) the President shall prohibit the export to

10 Syria of any item, including the issuance of a license

11 for the export of any item, on the United States Mu12 nitions List or Commerce Control List of dual-use

13 items in the Export Administration Regulations (15

14 C.F.R. part 730 et seq.); and

15 (2) the President shall impose two or more of

16 the following sanctions:

17 (A) Prohibit the export of products of the

18 United States (other than food and medicine)

19 to Syria.

20 (B) Prohibit United States businesses from

21 investing or operating in Syria.

22 (C) Restrict Syrian diplomats in Wash23 ington, D.C., and at the United Nations in New

24 York City, to travel only within a 25-mile ra-
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1 dius of Washington, D.C., or the United Na2 tions headquarters building, respectively.

3 (D) Prohibit aircraft of any air carrier

4 owned or controlled by Syria to take off from,

5 land in, or overfly the United States.

6 (E) Reduce United States diplomatic con7 tacts with Syria (other than those contacts re8 quired to protect United States interests or

9 carry out the purposes of this Act).

10 (F) Block transactions in any property in

11 which the Government of Syria has any inter12 est, by any person, or with respect to any prop13 erty, subject to the jurisdiction of the United

14 States.

15 (b) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica16 tion of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) for one or more

17 6-month periods if the President determines that it is in

18 the vital national security interest of the United States

19 to do so and transmits to Congress a report that contains

20 the reasons therefor.

21 (c) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO

22 SYRIA.—If the President—

23 (1) makes the determination that Syria meets

24 the requirements described in paragraphs (1)

25 through (4) of subsection (d) and certifies such de-
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1 termination to Congress in accordance with such

2 subsection;

3 (2) determines that substantial progress has

4 been made both in negotiations aimed at achieving

5 a peace agreement between Israel and Syria and in

6 negotiations aimed at achieving a peace agreement

7 between Israel and Lebanon; and

8 (3) determines that the Government of Syria is

9 strictly respecting the sovereignty, territorial integ10 rity, unity, and political independence of Lebanon

11 under the sole and exclusive authority of the Govern12 ment of Lebanon through the Lebanese army

13 throughout Lebanon, as required under paragraph

14 (4) of United Nations Security Council Resolution

15 520 (1982),

16 then the President is authorized to provide assistance to

17 Syria under chapter 1 of Part I of the Foreign Assistance

18 Act of 1961 (relating to development assistance).

19 (d) CERTIFICATION.—A certification under this sub20 section is a certification transmitted to the appropriate

21 congressional committees of a determination made by the

22 President that—

23 (1) the Government of Syria has ceased pro24 viding support for international terrorist groups and

25 does not allow terrorist groups, such as Hamas,
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1 Hizballah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular

2 Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Pop3 ular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General

4 Command to maintain facilities in territory under

5 Syrian control;

6 (2) the Government of Syria has withdrawn all

7 Syrian military, intelligence, and other security per8 sonnel from Lebanon;

9 (3) the Government of Syria has ceased the de10 velopment and deployment of medium- and long11 range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, is not pur12 suing or engaged in the research, development, ac13 quisition, production, transfer, or deployment of bio14 logical, chemical, or nuclear weapons, has provided

15 credible assurances that such behavior will not be

16 undertaken in the future, and has agreed to allow

17 United Nations and other international observers to

18 verify such actions and assurances; and

19 (4) the Government of Syria has ceased all sup20 port for, and facilitation of, all terrorist activities in21 side of Iraq, including preventing the use of territory

22 under its control by any means whatsoever to sup23 port those engaged in terrorist activities inside of

24 Iraq.
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1 SEC. 6. REPORT.

2 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date

3 of the enactment of this Act, and every 12 months there4 after until the conditions described in paragraphs (1)

5 through (4) of section 5(d) are satisfied, the Secretary of

6 State shall submit to the appropriate congressional com7 mittees a report on—

8 (1) Syria’s progress toward meeting the condi9 tions described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of sec10 tion 5(d);

11 (2) connections, if any, between individual ter12 rorists and terrorist groups which maintain offices,

13 training camps, or other facilities on Syrian terri14 tory, or operate in areas of Lebanon occupied by the

15 Syrian armed forces, and the attacks against the

16 United States that occurred on September 11, 2001,

17 and other terrorist attacks on the United States or

18 its citizens, installations, or allies; and

19 (3) how the United States is increasing its ef20 forts against Hizballah given the recognition that

21 Hizballah is equally or more capable than al Qaeda.

22 (b) FORM.—The report submitted under subsection

23 (a) shall be in unclassified form but may include a classi24 fied annex.
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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL

2 COMMITTEES.

3 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com4 mittees’’ means the Committee on International Relations

5 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on

6 Foreign Relations of the Senate.

Passed the House of Representatives October 15,

2003.

Attest:

Clerk.