I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1828
To halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop 
its development of weapons of mass destruction, cease its illegal importa-
tion of Iraqi oil and illegal shipments of weapons and other military 
items to Iraq, and by so doing hold Syria accountable for the serious 
international security problems it has caused in the Middle East, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 12, 2003
Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BACHUS, 
Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BELL, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BRADY 
of Pennsylvania, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. CROWLEY, 
Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, 
Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. FROST, Mr. 
GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. JANKLOW, Mr. 
KING of New York, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mrs. MALONEY, 
Mr. MATSUI, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. 
MCNULTY, Mr. MICA, Mr. MOORE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. 
PENCE, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. ROSS, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. 
SHERMAN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. TURNER of 
Texas, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. VITTER, Mr. WEINER, Mr. WELLER, and 
Mr. WEXLER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on International Relations 
A BILL 
To halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation 
of Lebanon, stop its development of weapons of mass 
destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil and 
illegal shipments of weapons and other military items 
to Iraq, and by so doing hold Syria accountable for
the serious international security problems it has caused 
in the Middle East, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Syria Accountability 
and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) On September 20, 2001, President George 
Bush stated at a joint session of Congress that 
‘‘[e]very nation, in every region, now has a decision 
to make . . . [e]ither you are with us, or you are 
with the terrorists . . . [f]rom this day forward, any 
nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism 
will be regarded by the United States as a hostile re-
gime’’. 
(2) On June 24, 2002, President Bush stated 
‘‘Syria must choose the right side in the war on ter-
ror by closing terrorist camps and expelling terrorist 
organizations’’. 
(3) United Nations Security Council Resolution 
1373 (September 28, 2001) mandates that all states 
‘‘refrain from providing any form of support, active 
or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist 
acts’’, take ‘‘the necessary steps to prevent the com-
mission of terrorist acts’’, and ‘‘deny safe haven to 
those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist 
acts’’. 
(4) The Government of Syria is currently pro-
hibited by United States law from receiving United 
States assistance because it has repeatedly provided 
support for acts of international terrorism, as deter-
mined by the Secretary of State for purposes of sec-
tion 6(j)(1) of the Export Administration Act of 
1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)) and other rel-
evant provisions of law. 
(5) Although the Department of State lists 
Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism and reports 
that Syria provides ‘‘safe haven and support to sev-
eral terrorist groups’’, fewer United States sanctions 
apply with respect to Syria than with respect to any 
other country that is listed as a state sponsor of ter-
rorism. 
(6) According to the most recent Department of 
State Patterns of Global Terrorism Report: ‘‘[Syria] 
continued in 2001 to provide safehaven and logistics 
support to a number of terrorist groups. Ahmad 
Jibrils Popular Front for the Liberation of Pal-
estine-General Command (PFLP–GC), the Palestine 
Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Abu Musa’s Fatah-the-
other militant groups to operate freely in the area, 
and maintains thousands of rockets along Israel’s 
northern border, destabilizing the entire region.
(16) On February 12, 2003, Director of Central 
Intelligence George Tenet stated the following with 
respect to the Syrian-supported Hizballah: ‘‘[A]s an 
organization with capability and worldwide presence 
[it] is [al Qaeda’s] equal if not a far more capable 
organization . . . [T]hey’re a notch above in many 
respects, in terms of in their relationship with the 
Iranians and the training they receive, [which] puts 
them in a state-sponsored category with a potential 
for lethality that’s quite great.’’. 
(17) The United States is providing an esti-
mated $36,870,000 in fiscal year 2003 in assistance 
to the Lebanese people through private nongovern-
mental organizations, $6,180,000 of which is pro-
vided to Lebanese-American educational institutions. 
(18) In the State of the Union address on Jan-
uary 29, 2002, President Bush declared that the 
United States will ‘‘work closely with our coalition to 
deny terrorists and their state sponsors the mate-
rials, technology, and expertise to make and deliver 
weapons of mass destruction’’.
(19) The Government of Syria continues to de-
velop and deploy short and medium range ballistic 
missiles. 
(20) According to the December 2001 unclassi-
fied Central Intelligence Agency report entitled 
‘‘Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic 
Missile Threat through 2015’’, ‘‘Syria maintains a 
ballistic missile and rocket force of hundreds of 
FROG rockets, Scuds, and SS–21 SRBMs [and] 
Syria has developed [chemical weapons] warheads 
for its Scuds’’. 
(21) The Government of Syria is pursuing the 
development and production of biological and chem-
ical weapons and has begun a suspicious nuclear re-
search program. 
(22) According to the Central Intelligence 
Agency’s ‘‘Unclassified Report to Congress on the 
Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of 
Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Muni-
tions’’, released January 7, 2003: ‘‘[Syria] already 
holds a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin but appar-
ently is trying to develop more toxic and persistent 
nerve agents. Syria remains dependent on foreign 
sources for key elements of its [chemical weapons] 
program, including precursor chemicals and key pro-
duction equipment. It is highly probable that Syria 
also is developing an offensive [biological weapons] 
capability.’’. 
(23) On May 6, 2002, Under Secretary of State 
for Arms Control and International Security, John 
Bolton, stated: ‘‘The United States also knows that 
Syria has long had a chemical warfare program. It 
has a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin and is en-
gaged in research and development of the more toxic 
and persistent nerve agent VX. Syria, which has 
signed but not ratified the [Biological Weapons Con-
vention], is pursuing the development of biological 
weapons and is able to produce at least small 
amounts of biological warfare agents.’’. 
(24) According to the Central Intelligence 
Agency’s ‘‘Unclassified Report to Congress on the 
Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of 
Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Muni-
tions’’, released January 7, 2003: ‘‘Russia and Syria 
have approved a draft cooperative program on co-
operation on civil nuclear power. In principal, broad-
er access to Russian expertise provides opportunities 
for Syria to expand its indigenous capabilities, 
should it decide to pursue nuclear weapons.’’.
(25) Under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation 
of Nuclear Weapons (21 UST 483), which entered 
force on March 5, 1970, and to which Syria is a 
party, Syria has undertaken not to acquire or 
produce nuclear weapons and has accepted full scope 
safeguards of the International Atomic Energy 
Agency to detect diversions of nuclear materials 
from peaceful activities to the production of nuclear 
weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. 
(26) Syria is not a party to the Chemical Weap-
ons Convention or the Biological Weapons Conven-
tion, both of which entered into force on March 26, 
1975. 
(27) United Nations Security Council Resolu-
tion 661 (August 6, 1990) and subsequent relevant 
resolutions restrict the sale of oil and other commod-
ities by Iraq, except to the extent authorized by 
other relevant resolutions. 
(28) Syria, a nonpermanent United Nations Se-
curity Council member, has been receiving between 
150,000 and 200,000 barrels of oil per day from 
Iraq at a substantial discount per barrel in violation 
of United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 
and subsequent resolutions. Recent estimates indi-
cate that as much as 230,000 barrels of oil per day
were shipped from Iraq to Syria in March 2003, or 
up to 60,000 barrels per day more than in February 
2003. 
(29) Syria’s illegal imports and transshipments 
of Iraqi oil have earned Syria $50,000,000 or more 
per month as Syria continues to sell its own Syrian 
oil at market prices. 
(30) Syria’s illegal imports and transshipments 
of Iraqi oil have earned Iraq approximately 
$2,000,000 per day. 
(31) Syrian President Bashar Assad promised 
Secretary of State Powell in February 2001 to end 
violations of Security Council Resolution 661 but 
this pledge has not been fulfilled. 
(32) United Nations Security Council Resolu-
tion 661 (August 6, 1990) and subsequent relevant 
Security Council resolutions restrict the sale or sup-
ply of ‘‘weapons or any military equipment’’ to Iraq. 
(33) The Government of Syria has utilized the 
railway network linking Mosul, Iraq, to Aleppo, 
Syria, to transfer a wide range of weaponry and 
weapon systems to Iraq. 
(34) On March 28, 2003, Secretary of Defense 
Donald Rumsfeld warned: ‘‘[W]e have information 
that shipments of military supplies have been cross-
ing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night-
vision goggles . . . These deliveries pose a direct 
threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider
such trafficking as hostile acts, and will hold the 
Syrian government accountable for such ship-
ments.’’. 
(35) According to Article 23(1) of the United 
Nations Charter, members of the United Nations are 
elected as nonpermanent members of the United Na-
tions Security Council with ‘‘due regard being spe-
cially paid, in the first instance to the contribution 
of members of the United Nations to the mainte-
nance of international peace and security and to 
other purposes of the Organization’’. 
(36) Despite Article 23(1) of the United Na-
tions Charter, Syria was elected on October 8, 2001, 
to a 2-year term as a nonpermanent member of the 
United Nations Security Council beginning January 
1, 2002, and served as President of the Security 
Council during June 2002. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the Government of Syria should imme-
diately and unconditionally halt support for ter-
rorism, permanently and openly declare its total re-
nunciation of all forms of terrorism, and close all 
terrorist offices and facilities in Syria, including the 
offices of Hamas, Hizballah, the Popular Front for 
the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front 
for the Liberation of Palestine—General Command; 
(2) the Government of Syria should imme-
diately declare its commitment to completely with-
draw its armed forces, including military, para-
military, and security forces, from Lebanon, and set 
a firm timetable for such withdrawal; 
(3) the Government of Lebanon should deploy 
the Lebanese armed forces to all areas of Lebanon, 
including South Lebanon, in accordance with United 
Nations Security Council Resolution 520 (September 
17, 1982), in order to assert the sovereignty of the 
Lebanese state over all of its territory, and should 
evict all terrorist and foreign forces from southern 
Lebanon, including Hizballah and the Iranian Revo-
lutionary Guards; 
(4) the Government of Syria should halt the de-
velopment and deployment of medium and long 
range surface to surface ballistic missiles and cease 
the development and production of biological and 
chemical weapons;
Security Council’s President, and should be removed 
from the Security Council. 
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States that—
(1) Syria will be held responsible for attacks 
committed by Hizballah and other terrorist groups 
with offices or other facilities in Syria, or bases in 
areas of Lebanon occupied by Syria; 
(2) the United States shall impede Syria’s abil-
ity to support acts of international terrorism and ef-
forts to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruc-
tion; 
(3) the Secretary of State will continue to list 
Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism until Syria 
ends its support for terrorism, including its support 
of Hizballah and other terrorist groups in Lebanon 
and its hosting of terrorist groups in Damascus, and 
comes into full compliance with United States law 
relating to terrorism and United Nations Security 
Council Resolution 1373 (September 28, 2001); 
(4) efforts against Hizballah will be expanded 
given the recognition that Hizballah is equally or 
more capable than al Qaeda; 
(5) the full restoration of Lebanon’s sov-
ereignty, political independence, and territorial in-
tegrity is in the national security interest of the 
United States; 
(6) Syria is in violation of United Nations Se-
curity Council Resolution 520 (September 17, 1982) 
through its continued occupation of Lebanese terri-
tory and its encroachment upon its political inde-
pendence; 
(7) Syria’s obligation to withdraw from Leb-
anon is not conditioned upon progress in the Israeli-
Syrian or Israeli-Lebanese peace process but derives 
from Syria’s obligation under Security Council Reso-
lution 520; 
(8) Syria’s acquisition of weapons of mass de-
struction and ballistic missile programs threaten the 
security of the Middle East and the national security 
interests of the United States; 
(9) Syria is in violation of United Nations Se-
curity Council Resolution 661 (August 6, 1990) and 
subsequent relevant resolutions through its contin-
ued purchase of oil from Iraq and shipments of 
weapons and other military equipment to Iraq; 
(10) Syria will be held accountable for any 
harm to Coalition armed forces of Operation Iraqi 
Freedom caused by shipments of military supplies 
from Syria to Iraq; and
(11) the United States will not provide any as-
sistance to Syria and will oppose multilateral assist-
ance for Syria until Syria withdraws its armed 
forces from Lebanon, halts the development and de-
ployment of weapons of mass destruction and me-
dium and long range surface to surface ballistic mis-
siles, and complies with Security Council Resolution 
661 and subsequent relevant resolutions. 
SEC. 5. PENALTIES AND AUTHORIZATION. 
(a) PENALTIES.—Until the President makes the de-
termination that Syria meets the requirements described 
in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (d) and cer-
tifies such determination to Congress in accordance with 
such subsection—
(1) the President shall prohibit the export to 
Syria of any item, including the issuance of a license 
for the export of any item, on the United States Mu-
nitions List or Commerce Control List of dual-use 
items in the Export Administration Regulations (15 
C.F.R. part 730 et seq.); and 
(2) the President shall impose two or more of 
the following sanctions: 
(A) Prohibit the export of products of the 
United States (other than food and medicine) 
to Syria.
(B) Prohibit United States businesses from 
investing or operating in Syria. 
(C) Restrict Syrian diplomats in Wash-
ington, D.C., and at the United Nations in New 
York City, to travel only within a 25-mile ra-
dius of Washington, D.C., or the United Na-
tions headquarters building, respectively. 
(D) Prohibit aircraft of any air carrier 
owned or controlled by Syria to take off from, 
land in, or overfly the United States. 
(E) Reduce United States diplomatic con-
tacts with Syria (other than those contacts re-
quired to protect United States interests or 
carry out the purposes of this Act). 
(F) Block transactions in any property in 
which the Government of Syria has any inter-
est, by any person, or with respect to any prop-
erty, subject to the jurisdiction of the United 
States. 
(b) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-
tion of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) for one or more 
6-month periods if the President determines that it is in 
the vital national security interest of the United States 
to do so and transmits to Congress a report that contains 
the reasons therefor.
(c) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO SYRIA 
AND LEBANON.—If the President—
(1) makes the determination that Syria meets 
the requirements described in paragraphs (1) 
through (4) of subsection (d) and certifies such de-
termination to Congress in accordance with such 
subsection; 
(2) determines that substantial progress has 
been made both in negotiations aimed at achieving 
a peace agreement between Israel and Syria and in 
negotiations aimed at achieving a peace agreement 
between Israel and Lebanon; and 
(3) determines that the Government of Syria is 
strictly respecting the sovereignty, territorial integ-
rity, unity, and political independence of Lebanon 
under the sole and exclusive authority of the Govern-
ment of Lebanon through the Lebanese army 
throughout Lebanon, as required under paragraph 
(4) of United Nations Security Council Resolution 
520 (1982), 
then the President is authorized to provide assistance to 
Syria and Lebanon under chapter 1 of Part I of the For-
eign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to development as-
sistance).
(d) CERTIFICATION.—A certification under this sub-
section is a certification transmitted to the appropriate 
congressional committees of a determination made by the 
President that—
(1) the Government of Syria does not provide 
support for international terrorist groups and does 
not allow terrorist groups, such as Hamas, 
Hizballah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of 
Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation 
of Palestine—General Command to maintain facili-
ties in Syria; 
(2) the Government of Syria has withdrawn all 
Syrian military, intelligence, and other security per-
sonnel from Lebanon; 
(3) the Government of Syria has ceased the de-
velopment and deployment of medium and long 
range surface to surface ballistic missiles and has 
ceased the development and production of biological 
and chemical weapons; and 
(4) the Government of Syria is no longer in vio-
lation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 
661 and subsequent relevant resolutions. 
SEC. 6. REPORT. 
(a) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and every 12 months there-
after until the conditions described in paragraphs (1) 
through (4) of section 5(c) are satisfied, the Secretary of 
State shall submit to the appropriate congressional com-
mittees a report on—
(1) Syria’s progress toward meeting the condi-
tions described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of sec-
tion 5(d); 
(2) connections, if any, between individual ter-
rorists and terrorist groups which maintain offices, 
training camps, or other facilities on Syrian terri-
tory, or operate in areas of Lebanon occupied by the 
Syrian armed forces, and the attacks against the 
United States that occurred on September 11, 2001, 
and other terrorist attacks on the United States or 
its citizens, installations, or allies; and 
(3) how the United States is increasing its ef-
forts against Hizballah given the recognition that 
Hizballah is equally or more capable than al Qaeda. 
(b) FORM.—The report submitted under subsection 
(a) shall be in unclassified form but may include a classi-
fied annex. 
SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL 
COMMITTEES. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on International Relations
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate.
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