A top Republican in the US Senate calls for curbing the wave of Arab contact with Damascus

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The top Republican on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, called on the US administration to stop Arab normalization with the Syrian president, pointing to the refusal of President Joe Biden’s administration to move forward with the anti-normalization law with Assad.

Senator Risch wrote on X saying, “The Biden administration’s non-interference approach has encouraged Iran to launch attacks against our interests, with impunity”.

He stressed that the US administration must better curb the wave of Arab communication with the Syrian President, including imposing sanctions on the entities that support him.

In another tweet, the US Senator said, “I presented the anti-normalization law with President Assad since last September, and despite my repeated requests, the Biden administration and its partners in the Senate still refuse to move forward with this legislation,” asking, “What prevents them from holding Damascus accountable?”

A few days ago, the Washington Post quoted representatives and aides in Congress as saying that the White House objected to the inclusion of the draft bill against normalization with the Syrian president within a complementary supportive package of laws approved by Congress last week.

The White House’s objection to the draft came even though it didn’t object to the inclusion of a draft that includes bills imposing other sanctions, some of which target Iran.

Representative Joe Wilson, who proposed the bill, commented that “the decision to remove this law, which was agreed upon by both parties, from the package of complementary laws cannot be explained,” stressing that “the Biden administration’s failure to hold Damascus accountable strengthens Putin and the Iranian regime”.

For his part, Senator Risch stressed that “Congress is obligated to enact this law, but despite repeated demands to do so, the US administration and its partners in Congress have repeatedly obstructed the process of holding the Syrian leadership accountable”.

It’s noteworthy that if this bill isn’t passed before the end of this year, the current sanctions imposed on Syria and approved by the “Caesar Act” in 2020 will expire, and the pressure on everyone who wants to normalize relations with the Syrian president will end.

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