WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The Bush administration is considering imposing new sanctions on Syria to prod it to crack down on Iraqis in Syria who are providing financial and logisticalsupport to insurgents in Iraq, the New York Times said in a reporton Wednesday.

    Among the steps being considered is a Treasury Department action that could essentially isolate the Syrian banking system, the report said citing senior US officials.

    The officials said the Syrian government has not taken action against the network of Iraqis in Damascus despite months of quiet protest from the United States. The network includes former officials of Saddam Hussein's government and recent intelligence suggests that the network's role in providing support to insurgents in Iraq is more extensive than previously suspected, the report said.

    However, although the Iraqis in Syria are playing a "significant" role in coordinating flows of money, weapons and combatants inside Iraq, the anti-American insurgency would continue to thrive even without help from Syria, US officials admitted.

    Syrian officials have sought to rebut American criticism by saying the United States has yet to provide them with sufficient accurate information to prompt action against individual Iraqis the Americans say are in the network.

    Syria has long been subject to limited US economic sanctions because of its designation by the US State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism. The Bush administration imposed additional sanctions last spring that prohibit exports to Syria of most goods,excluding food and medicine, and outlaws commercial flights between the United States and Syria by Syrian-owned aircraft. Enditem