DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria rejected the Obama administration’s decision to renew economic and diplomatic sanctions against Damascus and urged Washington to abandon "foolish policies," a state-run newspaper reported Sunday.

The State Department announced Friday that President Barack Obama felt compelled to renew the sanctions, which were first imposed by George W. Bush’s administration four years ago as diplomatic contact dwindled. The decision came even as two U.S. envoys were in the Syrian capital exploring prospects for improved relations.

Syria’s Tishrin newspaper said U.S. policies of isolation, blockades and sanctions adopted by the former U.S. administration "have put the United States in an intractable impasse." It said Washington can reverse this path if it stepped up its role in promoting peace, security and stability in the Middle East.

The United States should get rid of "foolish policies and replace them with openness, dialogue and discussions through transparent practices, the foremost of which is an open and final reversal of the policy of sanctions against states and peoples," the newspaper said in a front-page editorial.