'Engaging' Syria: President Obama renews sanctions

AFP/ here

"... Mr. Obama said in a message to Congress renewing the sanctions, first imposed by President George W. Bush in 2004, that the Syrian government had made “some progress” in suppressing the infiltration of foreign fighters into Iraq. But he added that Syria’s “continuing support for terrorist organizations and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.”