ATROCITIES IN IDLIB, SYRIA

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ATROCITIES IN IDLIB, SYRIA

(Mr. RASKIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, there is another unfolding humanitarian

crisis in Syria, this time in Idlib province. Syrian President Bashar

al-Assad has launched an all-out assault on the province, aided by

Vladimir Putin's Russian forces.

More than a quarter of a million people, 80 percent of them women and

children, have fled their homes to the northern part of Idlib into

freezing desert and refugee camps, without adequate food, shelter, or

medical care.

With the current death toll of the Syrian civil war estimated to

exceed 500,000, along with six million people internally displaced,

humanitarian groups are concerned that the siege of Idlib will result

in the largest humanitarian disaster yet seen in the country.

This assault is a replay of the siege of Aleppo as the government

again bombs civilian targets like hospitals, schools, markets and

people's homes.

This disaster will only be compounded as a result of Russia vetoing a

U.N. Security Council resolution allowing cross-border aid to Syrian

refugees. Although a modified resolution was adopted, cross-border aid

has been restricted and may come to an end this summer if Russia and

Syria continue to push for its elimination.

As U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Kelly Craft said: \\\`\\\`Syrians will

suffer needlessly as a result of this resolution.''

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