US President George W Bush has told Congress that he opposes a bill to introduce economic sanctions against Syria.

"I want to confirm that my administration disapproves [of the] Syrian Accountability Act and has made this clear to the Congress," the president's Middle East envoy David Satterfield told journalists in Beirut after meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

Satterfield "disapproves" of sanctions

The bill would ban US investment or trade with Syria until Damascus closes "offices of Palestinian movements based in Syria, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad".

Washington has listed these as terrorist groups.

Mr Satterfield reportedly told a group of Lebanese Christians that the "bill harms the manoeuvrability of the US president ... which is why the US administration is opposed" to it.

The statement has been interpreted as referring to efforts to build support for a US military attack on Iraq, Syria's neighbour and trading partner.

The US House of Representatives is due to vote on the bill in September.

Power games

The US State Department lists Syria - along Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan - as states it accuses of supporting international terrorism.

Those listed are barred from purchasing US military equipment and receiving international aid other than for humanitarian purposes but this does not mean a break in diplomatic relations.

Syria and Iraq enjoy close relations

The Syrian Accountability Act also seeks to impose sanctions unless it ends its ballistic missile programme, withdraws from Lebanon and complies with UN sanctions against Iraq.

It requires Syria to disarm the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and allow Lebanese troops into a region near Israel.

About 30,000 Syrian troops have been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1976, a year after the outbreak of the country's 15-year civil war.

Hezbollah has controlled the area since Israel ended it 22-year occupation in May 2000.

Lebanese Christian opposition groups fear the south of the country could be offered as a "consolation prize" to Syria as a reward for cooperation with Washington.