U.S. Places New Curbs on Syria, Cites Terrorism Role

President Reagan on Friday imposed new economic sanctions to punish Syria for its role in the attempted bombing of an Israeli airliner carrying more than 200 Americans.

The steps--which White House spokesman Larry Speakes said would dramatize U.S. outrage at Syria’s longstanding support for international terrorism--were announced as Administration officials tried to dampen criticism of a secret operation that sent arms to Iran and resulted in the release of three American hostages in Lebanon.

The announcement also came the same day that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the primary proponent of sanctions against Syria, arrived here for a 24-hour visit with Reagan and other officials. Thatcher’s government suspended diplomatic relations with Syria because of its support for a terrorist convicted of trying to bomb the Israeli plane, and she has been urging British allies to take similar steps against the Damascus regime.

Effect Mostly Symbolic

But the U.S. sanctions on Syria, ranging from further restrictions on already minuscule U.S.-Syria trade to cancellation of a largely unused commercial airline agreement, are not expected to have much impact on Syria. The effect may be felt more keenly by U.S. businesses than by the Damascus regime.

Administration officials admitted earlier that the United States has so little economic interaction with Syria that sanctions would have no more than symbolic importance.

Nevertheless, Speakes and State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the measures would add to Syria’s international isolation. They said Syria, by its support for terrorism, forfeited its right to be considered an important regional power.

“Syria, today, because of these (terrorist) acts, is simply unable to play its historic Arab role in the region,” Redman said. “It is unable to do so precisely because of the policies of its leaders. International terrorism is unacceptable, and it is particularly unacceptable when it comes from a state which should be playing a leading role in regional affairs. History demands more of Syria than of states such as Libya or South Yemen.”

Contrasting Explanation

That formulation contrasted with Reagan’s explanation Thursday night that he authorized efforts to restore ties to Iran--broken in 1979 when Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage--because of that nation’s geographic and political significance.

The Administration said Syria had long been suspected of supporting terrorism but conclusive proof had been lacking until a British court convicted Nezar Hindawi, a Palestinian with a Jordanian passport, of trying to bomb an El Al Israel Airlines jetliner and developed evidence directly implicating the Syrian government in the plot. The flight last April, originating in New York, had made a scheduled stop in London en route to Tel Aviv when Hindawi tried to smuggle explosives aboard in the hand luggage of his unsuspecting Irish girlfriend.

Speakes announced these specific sanctions:

--Expansion of export controls to cover all items with national security significance--such as computers, aircraft and related parts and components--regardless of their intended use. Previously, aircraft sales were permitted if the value was less than $7 million and the planes were intended exclusively for civilian use. U.S. exports last year totaled just over $100 million and are expected to be even less this year. U.S. imports from Syria totaled only $3 million last year.

--Revocation of Syrian eligibility for Export-Import Bank credits. Syria has not used the credits in recent years.

--Termination of the U.S.-Syria air transport agreement, signed in 1946, which authorized U.S. airline service to Syria, though not Syrian airline service to the United States. The agreement also authorized civilian aircraft of one nation to fly through the airspace of the other. Currently, no U.S. airline serves Damascus and no Syrian planes have ever used U.S. airspace, though planes of Pan American World Airways and Flying Tiger airlines regularly use Syrian airspace and now will have to find other routes.

--A prohibition on the sale of tickets in the United States for travel on Syrian Arab Airlines.

--A ban on “high-level” official visits between Syria and the United States. This presumably will prevent U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy from making any more visits to Damascus. No high-level Syrian has visited Washington in recent years, and there has not been a U.S. visitor to Syria at a rank above assistant secretary for at least a decade.

--Reductions in the already small staffs of the U.S. Embassy in Damascus and the Syrian Embassy in Washington. The United States withdrew its ambassador from Syria after Hindawi’s conviction and Britain’s suspension of diplomatic ties with the Damascus government.

--Pressure on U.S. oil companies to end their operations in Syria. The Syrian oil industry is tiny by Middle East standards, and the country uses more petroleum than it produces.

--Increased scrutiny on visa applications for visits to the United States by Syrian citizens.

Speakes and Redman conceded that they did not know if Syria would stop its efforts to free U.S. hostages in Beirut as a result of the sanctions. Speakes said he hopes that the Syrians would not end their cooperation. “That’s exactly what we’re looking for them not to do.”

However, U.S. confidence in Syria’s willingness or ability to free the hostages has declined in recent months. The State Department issued a chronology Friday of Syrian-sponsored terrorist attacks that included the Dec. 27, 1985, raids at the Rome and Vienna airports that left 20 dead, including five Americans and one Israeli.

At that time, Washington blamed Libya for backing those attacks by the Abu Nidal faction of renegade Palestinians, which has bases in Libya and Syria. Administration officials had discounted Syrian involvement, and Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead downplayed Abu Nidal’s Damascus operation as only “a branch office” of the group’s Tripoli headquarters.