, Stepping up pressure on Damascus, the Bush administration on Jan. 4 moved to freeze U.S. assets of three Syrian government entities that it accuses of helping to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it designated the Syrian Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, the Electronics Institute and the National Standards and Calibration Laboratory as proliferators under an executive order aimed at combating the spread of weapons of mass destruction proliferation.
The designation freezes any U.S. assets they may have and prohibits Americans from any financial transactions with them. A Treasury Department spokeswoman also said the Treasury expected the action to prompt most foreign financial institutions to voluntarily cut ties to the three Syrian entities.
The Treasury said the three state-sponsored institutions are subordinates of Syria
