The US Senate has votedoverwhelmingly to impose economic and diplomaticsanctions on Syria, which the United States accuses ofsponsoring terrorism.
The administration has accused Damascus of doing little to help the United States in its war against terrorism and said it has allowed groups to pass into Iraq to attack US soldiers.
Syria has said relations with the United States were the most negative in years. It said it is working to secure the border and urged Washington to do the same on the Iraq side.
The bill, some two years in the making, lets President George W Bush"calibrate US sanctions against Syria in response to positive Syrian behavior," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Mr Richard Lugar said.
With trade between the two countries a modest $300 million or less annually, the sanctions would have more political than economic effects.