In the News

Earlier this month, while President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spent an hour on the phone discussing North Korea aggressions and the conflict in Venezuela, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and his Russian allies were barrel-bombing civilians in the Syrian province of Idlib.

It would be hard to find a starker example of an adrift U.S. policy on the conflict in Syria.

Eight years ago, the people of Syria started to protest the Assad regime, like many other Middle Eastern people living under the yoke of authoritarian governments. At the time, few could have predicted that eight years later in Syria. More than half a million men, women, and children would be dead, millions more displaced, and the entire region feeling like a lit fuse ready to explode into further conflict.

Shortly after coming to Congress in 2015, I read Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick. In the book, I learned that a young Syrian American from Hot Springs, Ark. (just an hour outside of my congressional district), named Mouaz Moustafa had been leading a Syrian pro-democracy group in Washington, D.C. Mouaz’s love of Arkansas and America, along with his passionate advocacy for the innocent people of Syria, is inspiring and infectious. Subsequently, I met Mouaz, studied his efforts, and I learned more and more about the horrific events happening in Syria.

What is happening in Syrian is a modern-day holocaust, and our obligation to end Assad’s reign of terror is something that all Americans must confront. Last Congress, President Trump signed into law the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act. This law provides emergency relief to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Iraq and Syria, and it holds accountable the perpetrators of these crimes. Despite that legislative success, the House and Senate have not yet been able to pass the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act. That bill is the most powerful piece of proposed legislation related to the Syrian crisis because it increases our powers to hold Assad’s supporters accountable for these atrocities.

I commend Trump for the action he took in 2017 against Shayrat Airbase after the Assad regime gassed its own people. Further, the small U.S. military presence, along with our allies in Syria, carries significant weight in keeping Iran, Russia, and ISIS at bay. In my view, Trump's reversal of his decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria, and instead station small forces in the northeast and the south at the al-Tanf military base, is the right call.

Syria was a major foreign policy blunder in the Obama administration. In 2012, President Barack Obama drew a “red line” on chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime but then famously failed to enforce it; strong and forceful leadership by the U.S. was absent. For the Trump administration, defeating ISIS and curtailing Iran’s aggression have been key priorities over the last two years. However, we cannot maintain these security priorities without engaged leadership in helping resolve the Syrian crisis. All available options for the U.S. are difficult at best, like opening a dialogue with armed actors in the northeast, working with Turkey at a troubled time in their NATO relationship, or engaging with the world’s most nefarious actors like Iran, Russia, and the Assad regime.

The time for full American diplomatic engagement is now. America must make Syria a priority — and not only to right out our wrongs of failing to lead when Assad crossed Obama’s “red line” in 2013. It is in our national interest to reduce regional tensions in a post-ISIS Syria. This result would help end the ongoing humanitarian nightmare that is preventing millions of Syrians from returning to their families and homes.

We must tap our diplomatic, military, and financial power to engage with allies and adversaries alike in Syria. If America remains on the sidelines, there will be more misery for the Syrian people and more instability for the region as a consequence. Our allies in Israel, Jordan, and Egypt would be worse off, and America would need to prepare for the consequences of continued and further destabilization in the region — including increased risks to our homeland.

The time for American leadership is now.