CRAWFORD, March 6: The United States will soon slap sanctions on Syria, under a law allowing President George Bush to punish the country for alleged support of radical groups and weapons programmes , a US official said on Saturday.

"It's coming," said a White House official. The official would not say what kind of sanctions would be imposed or when they might take effect.

In November, the US Congress approved economic and diplomatic sanctions against Syria, which Washington accuses of supporting terrorism. President Bush signed the legislation, called the "Syria Accountability Act", into law in late December.

The law demands that Syria end its alleged support for terrorism, halt development of chemical and biological arms and medium and long-range missiles, and withdraw troops it has deployed in Lebanon.

It provides various levels of political and economic levers that can be used against Syria, including reducing the level of diplomatic representation and restricting the movements of Syrian diplomats in the United States.

Washington could also ban the sale of technology meant for civilian use, but with military applications, freeze the assets of Syrians in the United States, and bar Syrian aircraft from US airspace.

Mr Bush is spending the weekend at his Texas ranch, meeting Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Feb 25 that he was disappointed with Syria's Middle East policy, and that relations between Damascus and Washington were "not as I would like them to be".

He urged Damascus to learn from the lessons of Saddam Hussein's ouster and Libya's decision to abandon alleged weapons of mass destruction.

The United States has accused Damascus of helping to arm the Saddam government and of turning a blind eye to foreign militants entering Iraq to carry out attacks on the US-led forces.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last month again accused Syria and Iran of allowing militants to cross into Iraq.

"Syria and Iran have not been helpful to the people of Iraq," Mr Rumsfeld told journalists during a visit to Baghdad. "Indeed they have been unhelpful."

"We know Syria has been a hospitable place for escaping Iraqis" following the invasion of Iraq last year, he added.

In response, Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al Shara said Mr Rumsfeld "has a problem".

"This question has been asked several times, we have responded to it several times. The repetition of this question shows that the person who made these accusations has a problem," the Syrian minister said.

Syria has vehemently denied US charges of supporting terrorism and developing weapons, and said at the weekend that no one was infiltrating into Iraq.

It also accuses Washington of double standards and not doing enough to rein in its close ally Israel, which remains in occupation of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau seized from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. -AFP