The White House said on Friday it would soon impose sanctions on Syria for supporting terrorism and failing to stop guerrillas from entering Iraq.
"Those concerns need to be addressed. Syria needs to take them seriously and work to address those concerns. But we're going to continue to move forward on these sanctions," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
"We'll have more to say on that very soon," McClellan added.
Two US lawmakers, who helped push legislation through Congress to sanction Syria, complained earlier this week that President George W. Bush appeared to be appeasing Damascus by not implementing the penalties under the so-called Syria Accountability Act.
The lawmakers, Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, and Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, said they were preparing legislation for stiffer penalties on Syria and additional measures to isolate and weaken its government.