MADRID/BRUSSELS, 11 December 2003 — A US congressional committee plans to visit Syria to press President Bashar Assad to cooperate more in the war on terrorism at a time when Washington is threatening Damascus with sanctions.

Members of the Homeland Security Committee are visiting US allies in Europe and the Middle East to thank them and shore up cooperation against extremists.

But committee Chairman Christopher Cox said yesterday they would also visit Syria “with somewhat a different message” based on the Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, passed by Congress last month.

“Our message to President Assad will be essentially word for word what Congress has enunciated in the Syria Accountability Act,” Cox told a news conference in Madrid, first stop on a trip that will also take the group to Italy, Turkey and Israel.

“We look for substantially increased cooperation from Syria when it comes to combating terrorism,” said Cox, a California Republican. Assad normally meets US congressional delegations when they visit Damascus.

The act, not yet signed into law by US President George W. Bush, asks him to impose sanctions if Syria does not cut ties with Hamas, Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad — Palestinian groups that Syria says legitimately resist Israeli occupation of Arab land.

The act says it aims 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 hold Syria accountable for its role in the Middle East.”

Should Bush determine Syria is not cooperating, he could impose sanctions, one of which could bar US firms from trading in oil owned by Syrian state-owned entities.

Other sanctions could block US exports to Syria other than food and medicine, bar US firms from investing or operating in Syria, and prevent Syrian diplomats in Washington and at the United Nations in New York from traveling outside a 40-km radius of either city.

Syrian officials have countered that the measure could hurt US oil companies, harm US-Syrian ties and send the wrong signal to the Arab world.

Meanwhile, the European Union yesterday announced a breakthrough in talks with Syria on a political and economic cooperation pact, underlining its determination to engage with a country Washington has sought to isolate.

“We managed yesterday in Damascus to reach an understanding with the Syrian side on all remaining issues in the negotiations for a Euro-Mediterranean association agreement,” said Diego De Ojeda, a spokesman for the executive European Commission.