BEIRUT – Syria's foreign minister says the Arab League's newly approved sanctions against Syria amount to "a declaration of economic war."
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem's remarks at a televised appearance in Damascus on Monday come one day after the Arab League approved sweeping sanctions targeting Syria for its crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising. The U.N. says more than 3,500 people have been killed.
Al-Moallem told reporters that the Arab League and others refuse to believe that there is a foreign conspiracy against Syria.
The sanctions by Syria's Arab neighbors are expected to squeeze an ailing economy that already is under sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union.
