WASHINGTON-President Barack Obama extended US sanctions against Syria, saying late Monday it supported terrorist organisations and pursued weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes. Syria's actions and policies "pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States", Obama said in a statement. He noted that the Syrian government had "made some progress in suppressing foreign fighter networks infiltrating suicide bombers into Iraq". The Obama administration has been trying to forge a rapprochement with Syria, which it sees as crucial to Middle East peace efforts and stabilising the nascent democracy in neighbouring Iraq.