Chair, I thank the chairman and the ranking member
for including this amendment in the en
bloc package, because I remain concerned about the lack of a clear plan
or strategy in Syria. As the Syrian opposition supported by U.S. and coalition forces fight
to liberate Raqqa from ISIS control, we are confronted with the complex
and critical question of what comes next. Freeing Syrians from the
brutality of ISIS is but one part of a complex, grinding civil war that
began with the Assad regime's heinous violence against civilians and
has endured for over 6 years, with over 400,000 Syrians killed, 6
billion Syrians displaced within Syria, and over 4.5 million forced to
flee as refugees. We now have over 500 U.S. troops deployed to Syria to advise and
assist Syrian opposition forces. However, we have yet to have a clear,
comprehensive political strategy that describes what the end goals are
for U.S. involvement and how we hope to achieve those goals.
Keywords matched
refugees