SYRIA; Congressional Record Vol. 164, No. 154

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SYRIA

Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Hearing on Russia's role in Syria and the broader Middle East that had

been scheduled for last week has been postponed; therefore, I rise

today to raise awareness on the danger and urgency of the moment, given

the impending humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib, Syria, and the refusal

of the Trump administration to impose meaningful costs on Russia for

protecting Bashar al-Assad and his regime.

On Syria, Congress again finds itself in a situation where we often

hear more from the press than we do directly from the administration.

Last week many of us read with interest in the Washington Post a report

that President Trump agreed to a new strategy for Syria that

indefinitely extends the U.S. military presence and supports a major

diplomatic push to end the conflict. This same article also indicated

that the administration views the military campaign against ISIS as

nearly complete and that U.S. goals have now shifted to Iran's presence

in Syria given the doubts that Russia is willing and capable of

ejecting Iran from Syria.

Congress and the American people deserve to hear directly from the

Trump administration whether in fact this is our new strategy. When

this hearing is rescheduled, I expect the administration to explain in

detail its proposed diplomatic engagement and the plan for U.S. forces

in Syria after ISIS is defeated. I also want to know what specific

tools the administration proposes to use to ensure the removal of Iran

from Syria; compel the Assad regime to cease and Russia to cease

support for the bombing, torture, and gassing of Syrian civilians; and

hold Assad's brutal regime to account for its crimes against the Syrian

people, as well as consequences for the Kremlin's support of this

brutal regime.

In my view, Russia is fully culpable for perpetuating the war in

Syria and rendering that country persistently unstable, a magnet for

violent extremists and a direct threat to Israel.

Now more than ever, we must shine a light on Russia's role in

perpetuating the conflict in Syria, as well as Russia's role in the

region. And while we still await details on the disastrous and

embarrassing Helsinki summit between Presidents Trump and Putin, I am

deeply concerned that for the Syrian people Helsinki made a bad

situation worse.

I fear that President Trump did not raise Russia's war crimes in

Syria, such as Russian aircraft dropping Russian bombs in densely

populated areas of Syria. I doubt that President Trump called Putin out

for violating the deescalation agreement in southern Syria, agreed to

last year by the United States, Russia, and Jordan. I am skeptical that

President Trump pressed Putin to commit to delivering Assad to

participate in good faith at the UN-led process for a negotiated

settlement along the lines of Security Council Resolution 2254. I doubt

that President Trump insisted that Russia break its sinister alliance

with Tehran that has enabled the survival of Assad in Syria and

threatened the security of Israel. And I see no indication that the

administration is using any of the tools Congress has given it--

including mandatory sanctions provisions in the Countering American

Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, CAATSA--to change the status

quo in Syria or prevent the looming assault on Idlib province, where

Russia is already engaged in a bombing campaign alongside its client

Assad.

It seems to me that the administration is taking a backseat--or maybe

has gotten out of the car entirely--while the Assad-Russia-Iran

alliance is left unchallenged to starve, torture, and bomb the Syrian

people into submission.

While the humanitarian dimensions of this tragedy are reason enough

for the administration to take a different approach, there are

significant strategic consequences for allowing or enabling an Assad-

Russia-Iran partnership to solidify as a salient feature of the

landscape of the Middle East. But instead of U.S. leadership shaping

the region, we have instead Vladimir Putin--the man who has long

ensured Bashar al-Assad's survival--flying around the Middle East

completing deals for base access and weapons sales. And rather than

utilize the threat of CAATSA sanctions to compel U.S. partners in the

Arab world to cease significant purchases from the Russian defense and

intelligence sectors, the administration instead sought a national

security waiver for this provision of the law.

While the United States has backed away from its key leadership role

in addressing the region's conflicts, governments in the Middle East

rolled out the red carpet for Putin and flocked to Russia during the

World Cup to sit by his side and sign agreements for increased

cooperation.

Putin can only take away one message from this posture by the Trump

administration: Russian activities and influence in the Middle East

will not be challenged in any meaningful way by the United States.

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With so many vital U.S. national security interests at stake in the

region--including the safety and effectiveness of our troops fighting

ISIS--this leadership vacuum risks outcomes that serve only Russia's

interests, not our own.

While President Trump may believe that Russian hegemony in the Middle

East and Russian partnership with Iran is not a cause for concern, I am

deeply alarmed that we are on the road to a series of outcomes in Syria

that will be as catastrophic in human terms as they will be

strategically ruinous for U.S. interests and values for years to come.

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