The Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act (SALSRA,) is a
bill of the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
passed into law on December 12, 2003.
The bill's stated purpose is to end what the United States sees as Syrian support for terrorism, to end Syria's presence in Lebanon, which has been in effect since the end of the
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
in 1990, to stop Syria's alleged development of
WMDs, to cease Syria's illegal importation of Iraqi oil and to end illegal shipments of military items to anti-US forces in Iraq.
The bill was sponsored by Representative
Eliot L. Engel (D) from New York and was introduced April 12, 2003.
2013 Ghouta chemical attack
In response to the use of chemical weapons against civilians during the 2013
Ghouta chemical attack, president
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
asked Congress to authorize the use of military force against Syria. An early draft of that authorization cites the Syria Accountability Act, saying:
Whereas in the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, Congress found that Syria’s acquisition of weapons of mass destruction threatens the security of the Middle East and the national security interests of the United States.
See also
*
Pax Syriana
References
External links
The full text of the act
from georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov
Syria–United States relations
2003 in Syria
2003 in international relations
2003 in Lebanon
Counterterrorism in the United States
Arab–Israeli conflict
Terrorism laws in the United States
Terrorism in Syria
United States foreign relations legislation
Sanctions legislation
Acts of the 108th United States Congress
United States sanctions
{{US-fed-statute-stub
Michel Aoun