[Senate Hearing 116-241]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-241
NINE YEARS OF BRUTALITY: ASSAD'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST
THE SYRIAN PEOPLE
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MARCH 11, 2020
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web:
http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
40-985 PDF WASHINGTON : 2020
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho, Chairman
MARCO RUBIO, Florida ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
CORY GARDNER, Colorado JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina TOM UDALL, New Mexico
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio TIM KAINE, Virginia
RAND PAUL, Kentucky EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
TODD YOUNG, Indiana JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
TED CRUZ, Texas CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
DAVID PERDUE, Georgia
Christopher M. Socha, Staff Director
Jessica Lewis, Democratic Staff Director
John Dutton, Chief Clerk
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Risch, Hon. James E., U.S. Senator From Idaho.................... 1
Menendez, Bob, U.S. Senator From New Jersey...................... 3
Caesar, Syrian Military Defector................................. 5
Prepared Statement........................................... 6
Alshogre, Omar, Director of Detainee Issues, Syrian Emergency
Task Force..................................................... 19
Prepared Statement........................................... 21
Al Saleh, Raed, Head of the Syria Civil Defence [White Helmets].. 25
Prepared Statement........................................... 27
(iii)
NINE YEARS OF BRUTALITY: ASSAD'S
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE SYRIAN PEOPLE
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Wednesday, March 11, 2020
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:06 a.m. in
room SD-419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. James E.
Risch, chairman of the committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Risch [presiding], Rubio, Gardner,
Romney, Young, Perdue, Menendez, Cardin, Shaheen, Udall, Kaine,
Merkley and Booker
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES E. RISCH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM IDAHO
The Chairman. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will
come to order. We are under special provisions today because of
the security for our first witness today. I want to remind
everyone that there will be no camera use and no cell phone use
during this hearing. This will be strictly enforced by security
that is here and by staff of the Foreign Relations Committee.
We would ask everyone to keep that in mind and respect the
security of the individual that we have asked to testify here
today.
This month we marked a solemn ninth anniversary of the
Syrian conflict. Nine years of barrel bombs and chemical
weapons; 9 years of targeted attacks against medical and
humanitarian workers; 9 years of the most horrific human rights
atrocities of our time. Make no mistake, accountability for
these crimes lay squarely on the shoulders of Syria's brutal
dictator, Bashar al-Assad, and his Russian and Iranian backers,
as well as Lebanese Hezbollah.
Assad has weaponized every facet of the Syrian government
against his own people on an industrial scale. Over 560,000
people have been killed. Over 100,000 Syrians have perished in
Assad's notorious prisons, and Americans, including Austin
Tice, have been wrongfully detained. Today we reiterate the
demand for his immediate release and return.
For too many young Syrians, war and suffering is all they
have ever known. Together with their parents, they suffer the
physical and mental wounds of prolonged warfare. Those who left
as refugees risk arbitrary arrest, interrogation and torture by
the regime's secret police upon their return. The conflict has
now entered an intensified stage with Assad, Russia, and Iran
mounting a brutal and continuous offensive against Syria's last
remaining opposition stronghold, Idlib.
More than 960,000 civilians have been newly displaced since
December, many of whom fled other parts of Syria and now find
themselves caught in a death trap. Beyond the onslaught of
tanks and bombs and other weapons of war, they face the
immediate risk of freezing to death during a brutal winter
without access to adequate shelter and food.
Russia behaves as both an arsonist and a firefighter. Putin
pours gasoline on the flames of conflict while simultaneously
seeking a seat at the table by holding sham talks in Astana.
The U.N. recently confirmed what we have already suspected:
that Russia, in addition to Assad, is committing more crimes in
Syria. Russian planes were carrying out attacks in order to
kill first responders and bomb hospitals to destruction.
It's clear that the Russian government has no interest in
bringing peace or helping the Syrian people, but sees the
conflict as a way to grow its geopolitical importance. Russia's
quest for relevance is killing Syrians. Iran, which continues
to flood Syria with fighters, is no better.
This cannot go on. The Syrian people deserve better, much
better. We remain committed to the Geneva-brokered peace
process. U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254 remains our
guide post--a complete ceasefire, a Syrian-led political
process, a new constitution drafted by Syrians, and free and
fair elections.
I was pleased to see the U.N. Constitutional Committee
convene, even if the regime has resisted the committee's work
at every turn. Assad is not serious about peace. He benefits
from the status quo and will stop at nothing to remain in
power. A deeply fractured Syria will never heal absent
accountability and reconciliation. The regime and its
supporters must be held accountable for the atrocities they
have perpetrated.
This is precisely why we championed the Caesar Syria
Civilian Protection Act, which authorizes sanctions against the
Assad regime and its backers. It has been a long road to get
here. I was proud to sponsor this legislation as a stand-alone
bill last year and to pass it out of committee. It was hard
work to get it included in last year's annual defense bill, but
we prevailed and it is now law.
We are greatly honored to have the namesake for this bill
here with us today. What began with one man's courageous effort
to expose Assad's atrocities has become the means by which we
will hold Assad and his backers accountable. As with any law,
implementation is the key. We are working closely with the
administration to ensure that the Caesar Act is fully
implemented and impunity is ended.
In the face of such depravity and destruction, the strength
and resilience of the Syrian people gives me hope. Our
witnesses today are remarkable examples of human bravery and
grit. They have endured immeasurable suffering, yet continue to
work tirelessly to end impunity and protect the innocent.
As we proceed today with the hearing, we are going to go
without cameras of any kind, and without cell phones. There
will be no recording. This is at the request of our witness,
and that request is well-taken, and we're going to honor it.
What will happen is there will be a transcript made of his
testimony, which will be available shortly after the hearing.
So with that, Senator Menendez for your opening remarks
please.
STATEMENT OF BOB MENENDEZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY
Senator Menendez. Well, thank you Mr. Chairman, for holding
this hearing to commemorate and to try to grapple with the
horrific atrocities the Assad regime, with its Russian and
Iranian backers, is perpetrating against innocent people in
Syria.
Our witnesses today have literally risked their lives to
bear witness to crimes against humanity, to expose the
barbarity of a dictator who, for almost a decade, has fomented
a reign of fear, repression, and torture against his own
citizens. A ruthless leader who has not only cooperated with
terrorists to incite violence, who has murdered innocent
civilians in cold blood, but who has barbarously bombed
hospitals and medical workers to prevent them from providing
relief.
Your courageous act, Caesar, ensures that the world can and
must hold the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian backers
accountable for their crimes. Your continued efforts to provide
relief to the millions who need it remind us that we must
continue to press for a political solution and to provide for
those in immediate need.
Nine years ago, 9 years ago, peaceful demonstrators took to
the streets to demand change and accountability from their
government. Their calls for democratic reform were met with a
vicious response that has turned into a brutal, devastating
campaign. We know the numbers. More than half a million
innocent people killed. Millions and millions forcibly
displaced from their homes, many fleeing multiple times from
the places in which they sought refuge.
Last month, headlines screamed about the hundreds of
thousands of innocent people fleeing for their lives in Idlib.
People burning doors they had ripped from the hinges of their
homes to stay warm. Babies who survived targeted bombing
campaigns only to freeze to death in their parents' arms. And
yet the world seems paralyzed to act. We talk of humanitarian
relief, and Russia and Turkey continue to calculate the
implementation of yet another ``ceasefire.'' But we need
serious leadership and commitment. As Raed says in his written
testimony, ``What is needed is the political will to act to
protect civilians.''
Unfortunately for 9 years, the United States has not
displayed that political will. American efforts at promoting a
political process in the early years of the conflict were
overwhelmed by the more invested Russian, Iranian, and Turkish
governments. Facing little more than rhetorical pushback and
calling on support from terrorists and Russian airpower alike,
the Assad regime has pushed forward with its atrocities.
Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops last year, Turkey
stepped up its military involvement, pouring more fuel onto a
raging fire and undermining our ability to respond.
Over the years, this committee and Congress as a whole have
taken a number of steps to encourage both this Administration
and the last to clearly assert American leadership in standing
with the Syrian people, from authorizing a range of diplomatic
and military tools, to an AUMF in the face of the regime's
first chemical weapons attack, to support for humanitarian
assistance and refugee programs.
Unfortunately, we have not seen assertive policies from
either of the past two administrations. However, inaction
itself is a decision. One that carries consequences.
The Administration must make some decisions now. Will and
how will they work to protect civilians to ensure that they
receive critical humanitarian aid. While Ambassadors Jeffrey
and Craft's visit to Idlib sends an important message that we
are not totally deaf to the cries of civilians in desperate
need, we must ensure that aid can be delivered, including a
strategy at the U.N. to renew critical border crossing access
for humanitarian operators.
And on the questions of accountability, the Administration
must rigorously implement the Caesar Civilian Protection Act.
It must commit resources to holding the Assad regime and
Russian and Iranian facilitators accountable for their crimes
against humanity.
We must find a way to support the millions of refugees and
displaced people in Syria. But being a leader also requires
setting an example. The Administration has destroyed this
country's rich history of serving as a beacon of hope and light
to all those oppressed. And when we close our doors, we not
only turn our backs to those in need; we send a global message
that it is acceptable to do so as well.
Our witnesses here, of course, cannot answer these
questions. They have done extraordinary things--from exposing
the regime's barbarity, to enduring that same barbarity and
living to talk about it, to rushing towards the scene of an air
strike to save lives. But they cannot change U.S. policy. I
hope, however, their powerful testimonies will compel us to do
more. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you Senator Menendez. We are now going
to turn to our first witness, Caesar. For those of you in the
room, you can see the photos displayed from the Caesar file and
recent photographs from Idlib province. These are just a few of
the thousands of images, thousands of images, that Caesar
smuggled out of Syria to show the true brutality of the Syrian
regime.
Caesar is a Syrian military defector and former military
police photographer who smuggled out almost 55,000 photos of
detainees who were tortured and executed in Assad regime
intelligence branches and prisons.
Caesar is the namesake of the Caesar Syria Civilian
Protection Act. He continues to be a key witness to
prosecutions against war criminals within the Assad regime, as
well as a voice of conscience on behalf of the hundreds of
thousands who remain detained by the Assad regime.
Caesar, we are honored to have you with us today. Now we're
going to take just a moment to turn the cameras off for
Caesar's testimony and thank you all for attending today.
The prohibition is not only on photography. It is also on
voice recording. So with that Caesar, the floor is yours.
STATEMENT OF CAESAR, SYRIAN MILITARY DEFECTOR
Caesar. [Interpreted.] First of all, I would like to thank
you all. And I want to thank Chairman Risch and Ranking Member
Menendez for giving me the opportunity to present the Syrian
tragedy to this honorable committee.
I am Caesar. I worked as a forensic photographer in the
military police. Our work since the beginning of the Syrian
revolution and for years since the beginning of the Syrian
revolution was to take photographs of the bodies of victims who
have been detained, tortured, and murdered in the Syrian
regime's dungeons.
My work, my daily work, was mixed with pain and sorrow,
sorrow and pain at the painful scenes that I saw every single
day on the bodies of the victims, including men, women, and
children. The signs of torture were clear on the brittle
bodies, including children, women, and men. You can see the
torture on their bodies, including burning, strangulation, and
whipping with electric cables.
I risked my life and the life of my family to be able to
escape Syria under very tough circumstances filled with fear
and terror. Fearing that we may be arrested at any time by the
regime's security forces and fearing that my fate would be the
same fate as the victims that I photographed. I came out of
Syria carrying the most powerful documentation and files that
incriminate and document the crimes of the Assad regime against
detainees.
Five years have passed, and we have left no stone unturned
in order to bring the voice of these victims that have been
arrested and murdered in Assad's prisons with extreme brutality
and their only fault was that they came out asking for freedom
and dignity. We have worked and we continue to work in order to
bring the pleas and the screams of tens of thousands; the pleas
and the screams of tens of thousands that remain in the
detention centers; and that does not just include Syrians
citizens, but it also includes American citizens.
They all await the same fate of those that have come before
them, which is certain death. Our hope has been that, with the
help of this international community that values human rights
and freedom, to indict the Syrian regime for its systematic
machinery of death against the Syrian people and to bring the
war criminals responsible for these crimes before international
courts.
And we hoped that we would be able to free the hundreds of
thousands of detainees that remain under torture on a daily
basis in Syrian prisons. But unfortunately, since I left Syria
about 5 years ago, detentions have only increased and killing
has only increased in the same time in the same places at the
hands of the very same war criminals. And the reason simply is
that the Assad regime considered the inaction of the
international community in the mere statements of condemnation
and concern as a green light for him to continue his crimes
against the Syrian people, and what is happening now in Idlib
province from a complete siege and the shelling with all types
of weapons--some that are internationally banned weapons, with
the intention of displacing and killing its civilians and
occupying their villages.
This is the biggest example and the biggest evidence that
this bloody regime only understands the language of death and
this feeling of blood. The Syrian regime would not dare to
commit all of its war crimes if it was not for the strong
military, economic, and diplomatic support of Russia and Iran.
Russia and Iran, who have increased their criminality with
impunity. And the reason, again, that Iran and Russia are doing
this is that the international community has yet again been a
bystander to what is unfolding in Syria, while only issuing
statements of concern.
Honorable Senators, I want to take this very powerful and
important opportunity, I want to take this opportunity on my
behalf and on behalf of the Caesar team, to express our sincere
gratitude to the free American people represented by you all.
And I want to thank all of the humanitarian organizations in
the United States that have supported the passage of the Caesar
Act. And I also want to thank the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum. The Caesar law has become the final ray of hope for the
Syrian people in the absence of any military or political
solution.
This law is a very powerful message to all who support the
Assad regime. It is a reminder to all of them that time for
accountability and justice is coming and that no matter how
long oppression lasts, that there is no doubt that truth will
prevail in the end.
Dear Senators, the Caesar law is an important step in
helping to end the suffering of the Syrian people and to help
grant the Syrian people's wishes of freedom and dignity. But
this needs hard work to ensure that the Caesar Act is
implemented to the letter by the U.S. government.
I thank you all once again for your honorable and moral
support of the Syrian people. And I wish for you and for your
nation to live always in peace and in security, and that you
always have freedom and success.
Thank you all.
[The prepared statement of Caesar follows:]
Prepared Statement of Caesar
First of all, I want to thank you all and I want to thank Chairman
Risch and Ranking Member Menendez for giving us the opportunity to
present the Syrian tragedy in this honorable Committee. I am Caesar. I
worked as a forensic photographer in the military police. Our work
since the beginning of the Syrian revolution was to take photographs of
the bodies of the victims who had been detained, tortured, and murdered
in the Syrian regime dungeons. My daily work was mixed with pain and
sorrow due to the painful scenes that I saw every day on the bodies of
the victims including men, women, and children. The signs of torture
were clear on their brittle bodies including burning, strangulation,
and whipping with cables. I risked my life and the life of my family to
be able to escape Syria under tough circumstances of fear and terror.
Fearing that we may be arrested by the regime's security forces and
fearing that my fate would be the same fate as the victims that I
photographed. I came out of Syria carrying the most powerful
documentation and files that incriminate and document the Assad
regime's crimes against detainees. Five years have past, and we have
left no stone unturned in order to bring the voice of these victims
that have been arrested and murdered in Assad's prisons with extreme
brutality and their only fault was that they came out asking for
freedom and dignity. We have worked and we continue to work in order to
bring the pleas and the screams of tens of thousands of those that
remain in detention from the Syrian people and those of other
nationalities including American citizens that await the same fate as
those before them which is certain death. Our hope has been that, with
the help of the international community that values human rights and
freedom to indict the Assad regime for his systemic machinery of death
against the Syrian people and to bring the war criminals responsible
for these crimes before international courts. And that we would be able
to free the hundreds of thousands of detainees that remain living under
torture on a daily basis in Syrian prisons, but unfortunately and since
I left Syria 5 years ago detentions have increased. Killing has
increased in the same places and in the same ways and at the hands of
the very same criminals. And the reason simply is that the Assad regime
considered the inaction of the international community and the mere
statements of condemnation as a green light for him to continue his
crimes against the Syrian people and what is happening today in Idlib
from the siege of cities and targeting civilians with all types of
weapons including internationally banned weapons in order to displace
its people and occupy its villages is the biggest evidence that this
regime--that this bloody regime--only understands the language of death
and spilling of blood. The Syrian regime would not dare commit all of
its war crimes if it wasn't for the strong military, economic, and
diplomatic support of Russia and Iran, who have increased their
criminality with impunity. And the reason is that the international
community has been a bystander to what's unfolding in Syria while only
issuing statements of concern. Honorable Senators of the United
States--I want to take this opportunity on behalf of myself and the
Caesar team to express our sincere gratitude to the free American
people represented by you all. I want to thank all of the humanitarian
organizations in the U.S. that have supported the passage of the Caesar
Act. And I want to thank the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Caesar
Law has become the only ray of hope for the Syrian people in the
absence of any military or political solution. This law is a powerful
message to all who support the Assad regime that the time for
accountability and justice is coming and that no matter how long
oppression lasts, there is no doubt that truth will prevail. Dear
Senators--the Caesar law is an important step in helping end the
suffering of the Syrian people in order to grant their wishes of
freedom and dignity. But this needs hard work to ensure that the Caesar
Act is implemented to the letter by the U.S. government. I thank you
all once again for your honorable and moral stand support of the Syrian
people and I wish for you and for your nation to live always in peace
and security and that you always have freedom and success. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, very much Caesar. Thank you for
that powerful testimony. We certainly admire your bravery and
your willingness to come before us and tell the world what you
have seen and documented through photographs.
But we are now going to do a round of questions, and we'll
start with Senator Menendez.
Senator Menendez. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman and Caesar
thank you for, as I said, your extraordinary courage, work, and
the dramatic testimony that is not only what you said, but what
we can see, which if left to Assad and his supporters would be
hidden from the rest of the world.
Let me say, you mentioned that the Caesar Syria Civilian
Protection Act was a ray of hope. And when I worked with the
Chairman to help pass it, I agree it was a ray of hope. But it
has been law now nearly 3 months, and it was discussed far
longer than that. Yet we have not seen an imposition of
sanctions mandated in the bill or even released a list of
individuals to be targeted.
What effect does a further delay in implementation, in your
view, have on those individuals and entities that would be
subject to sanctions under the law? What message would a
further delay in implementation send to both the victims and
perpetrators of these heinous crimes?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] Thank you for your question. Even
when I first gave my testimony back in 2014, I spoke to
detainees that were there at the time. The fact that the U.S.
Congress at that time showed the Caesar photos, gave us the
opportunity to testify, that alone actually helped lower the
torture of those in there because those criminals thought that
accountability was coming, that punishment was coming.
If the bill is not implemented quickly, then that would
result in sending the wrong message to both the criminals and
those that are looking at it as a ray of hope. And so, we hope
that all of its deadlines are met.
Any delay in the implementation of the Caesar Act will be
considered as another green light by the Assad regime and his
supporters to continue what they're doing.
Senator Menendez. Okay, let me just ask you then one other
question. The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention
Act, which was enacted in 2019, recognizes that atrocity
prevention and response are critically important in the U.S.
national interest.
The law requires the President to submit reports to
Congress that include a review of efforts to prevent and
respond to atrocity crimes. That, as well as the fact that
Congress has authorized the Secretary of State to provide
appropriate assistance to support entities that collect,
document, and protect evidence of crimes in Syria and preserve
the chain of custody of such evidence. Groups including yours,
inside and outside of Syria, have been collecting such
evidence.
What assistance could and should the United States
government provide to groups, such as yours, in their
documentation efforts and what would you recommend us to do
with reference to preventing and responding to atrocity crimes
in Syria?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] First of all, there are amazing
organizations like ours that work on documentation, but due to
the lack of funding, many of these civil society groups and
organizations have had to suspend some of their work due to the
lack of capacity.
There must be support to those organizations doing that
work, and just as importantly, there must be support to the
families of victims and witnesses that are part of key
prosecutions and documentation against the Assad regime.
And as far as atrocities unfolding in Syria, our number one
priority even before and as we pursue justice, is for the
killing to end. And that will only happen with true leadership
from the United States.
Senator Menendez. Thank you very much.
The Chairman. Thank you Senator Menendez. Senator Rubio.
Senator Rubio. I also want to echo and thank you for being
here today. I wanted to briefly just recount a couple points
that I think are critical here.
The first is that it has to be abundantly clear to
everybody that the Assad regime has conducted brutal,
coordinated military attacks in which innocent civilians were
not just collateral damage. They were not just caught in the
crossfire between two military forces. They were intentionally
targeted.
They are the intentional targets of these attacks, meaning
when they are dropping bombs, they are trying to kill
civilians. When they were using chemical weapons, they were
trying to kill children. Just in the past month, we've seen
this in Idlib.
Remaining in power, if that's in fact how this turns out
for Assad as part of a deal with whoever it is he tries to cut
it with, cannot bestow immunity on this regime from
prosecution, from accountability for what they have done.
I also think it's important to point out that Vladimir
Putin is not simply supportive of Assad. They are not just
protecting Assad. Vladimir Putin is an active participant in
these efforts. He has conducted and directed the carrying out
of direct attacks against civilians, against children, against
the elderly, against aid workers. He is not just providing the
weapons for the attack. He is using his weapons, his planes,
his bombs.
And this has to continue to be documented. This has to
continue to be pointed out for the world to see and understand.
The other point that I would make is that Assad--and I
think we thank you as much as anyone in the world for this. You
have provided evidence that what Assad has done is he has
industrialized a process of arrest, torture, and murder. A
system that the United Nations has defined as a process of
extermination.
We don't know the numbers. Some of the estimates say
128,000 people have disappeared, and of course they're presumed
dead, that at least 14,000 we know of that have died from
torture. The number is certainly much higher. Many others, of
course, die from the horrific conditions. And then the stories
that have come out from various sources just take your breath
away.
I just tried to scribble some of them down here and in the
time we've had. But it's important for people to hear this
despite how uncomfortable it is. The story of a teenager doused
with fuel and set on fire, who died 21 days later after
suffering.
A guard who apparently calls himself Hitler, who organizes
these grotesque dinner theaters where prisoners were brought
out. Some are forced to kneel to act like tables and chairs.
Some are forced to play the role of animals; bark and crow or
whatever sound he wants them to make and if the sound isn't
good enough, he beats them. Women and girls repeatedly raped.
Stories of bloodstained floors from violent rapes.
It's a stunning testament to what's happening in our time,
in our planet, and all with the belief that he is going to
retain power, and Vladimir Putin will protect him at the United
Nations with veto power at the Security Council.
It's sad that many nations, and sometimes our own, are more
concerned about the disruption created by migrant flows, a
legitimate issue, and some of the other things that surround
this. But we are witnessing the single worst campaign of
violence and torture that the world has seen in 70 years, in
our time.
And my hope is that the testimony you have provided us in
the past and here today, that these photos that stand behind
us, that they will be part of the continuing documentation of
these crimes so that the people responsible for this at some
point, some way, somehow will be held accountable and will
never live in peace for the rest of their lives, on this earth.
That anywhere they travel, everywhere they go, they must
worry about the fact that they will be brought to justice. It
is my sincerest hope that that will be the case, and the world
will have a great debt to you for having provided so much
information.
And I guess my last point is, I do think it's important for
our nation to lead on these matters. I thank the Chairman, the
Ranking Member, our colleagues in the House, so many that
worked to pass the Caesar bill. But now we have to implement
it. Because if we don't implement it, it's just words on paper.
The Chairman. Please.
Caesar. [Interpreted.] Dear Sir, despite all of these
different, horrific times of killing that is happening by the
Assad regime and the torture, and all these crimes that you
mentioned, Sir. Unfortunately, his supporters are right now
trying to re-integrate him into the international community,
somehow bring him back to the community of nations.
And what we hope today from the American government, is to
ensure that the Assad regime is never normalized. Is never
brought back into the international community and that we
implement the Caesar law to the letter. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you. We want to assure you we will do
everything we can to see that that happens. That he is not
integrated into the international community. Thank you so much.
Senator Cardin.
Senator Cardin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank
Caesar for his courage for being willing to come forward. When
the photographs were first released in 2014/2015, I said then
that unfortunately, statistics are not going to move the
international community. You have to personalize it. And the
photographs that you released did that and I was hopeful that
when that release took place, we would have seen the type of
international response that would have ended the horrific
circumstances under the Assad regime in Syria. But that was not
the case.
I serve on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Board as one
of the Congressional representatives. I was telling my
colleagues, when you look at these photographs, it reminds you
of the photographs during World War II, when we said never
again. And we have not carried out that mission.
So I thank you very much for your courage because we need
to be reminded of our responsibility to humanity. I think this
committee has done incredible work in passing laws. You
mentioned the Caesar bill that we passed and thank the
Chairman, Senator Risch and Senator Menendez for their
leadership in guiding that legislation to completion. It's not
easy to get bills to the finish line here in the United States
Congress.
I'm also pleased about the atrocity prevention, Elie Wiesel
Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. Senator Young, I thank
him. The two of us worked on that legislation and it provides
the wherewithal to try to prevent atrocities so we don't have
to deal with accountability and the humanitarian aftermath.
We also had enacted into the National Defense Authorization
Act legislation that Senator Rubio and I worked on, the Syria
Accountability Act, that requires our administration to prepare
the evidence necessary to hold the Assad regime accountable for
their crimes against humanity.
So we have passed the bills here in the Congress. It's now
critically important for the U.S. leadership internationally to
implement those bills. So first and foremost, we want to end
the violence in Syria, to bring an end to the misery of war. We
need to provide humanitarian aid to those who are at risk, and
that needs to be done.
But there is a third part that you have mentioned that I
just want to underscore and that's accountability.
Unfortunately, when we resolve conflicts or we provide ways of
reducing the violence, we usually put the accountability as the
last issue to be dealt with, and sometimes it is never dealt
with. As a result, the perpetrators get away with what they
did, and there will be another atrocity in another part of the
world when people see they can get away with this.
So I just really want to underscore this point and give you
a chance to respond. If, in fact, the Assad regime is not held
accountable, even if we end the conflict, what message does
that send in your region of the world and throughout the world
as to future conflicts, as to whether there are any bounds as
to how civilian populations and human rights are handled during
conflict, if we don't hold the Assad regime accountable?
CAesar. [Interpreted.] The message if no accountability for
the Assad regime happens, regardless if the war stops or not,
if we do not pursue accountability, the message that that sends
to the entire world is a message to every tyrant and dictator
and war criminal that they can go on and commit these
humanitarian atrocities against defenseless civilians and that
they themselves, as well, will never be held accountable.
It is a green light for every other war criminal.
Senator Cardin. I agree completely, and that's why we need
to make sure that the United States is in the leadership
internationally, to make sure that we take care of ending the
violence, we provide humanitarian aid, but we must insist upon
accountability for war crimes.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Cardin. Senator Young.
Senator Young. Caesar, thank you. Thank you for your
selfless courage. Thank you for shining a light on these
horrific atrocities that truly shock the conscience of the
civilized world. Thank you for reminding us in graphic detail
about what has happened and what is happening in Syria; the
poisonings, the rapes, the extrajudicial killings, the bombing
of families, the targeted killing of children.
You've helped many of us here in the United States
understand Assad in a broader context. And it's been broadly
understood by many of us that Assad was a ruthless political
actor for some period of time. But, there has been less of a
popular understanding that he is relentlessly and
systematically abused and violated people's fundamental human
rights. That he slaughtered thousands of our fellow human
beings.
Caesar, how much do the Syrian people know about Assad's
crimes? And as a former member of the military, I ask you
relatedly, how should we view your fellow soldiers who have
remained in the military but may have different political
views?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] For 40 years, the Syrian people have
suffered from the crimes of the Assad regime and his father
before him. And what happened in Hama in the `80s is also
another horrific example of massive atrocities committed. But
at that time there was not media coverage, so the entire world
was not able to know as the Syrian people know the brutality of
the Assad regime.
What is happening today in Syria is a miracle. Because
Bashar al-Assad and his father, have ruled for well-over 40
years. They consider the Syrian people as animals in their
farm. So the Syrian people, to answer your questions, for a
long time understand the full scale of the brutality in the
machinery of death of the Assad regime.
And I believe that Bashar al-Assad, if it was not for
Russia and for Iran, would not be ruling Syria right now. Any
free person, any person that is a true patriot of Syria or has
any humanity that has been part of the military has defected,
and others that are still there must defect from this regime's
brutal military.
Senator Young. That is an important message.
Caesar. [Interpreted.] And so, it is the responsibility of
every honorable person, every Syrian patriot, any Syrian
military person with any humanity to defect from the regime,
and the fact is the lack of action by the international
community actually does not encourage anybody defecting because
they fear that Assad will continue to rule with the world
standing by.
Senator Young. This Caesar legislation that I have worked
with my colleagues through the great leadership of the Chairman
and Ranking Member and Senator Rubio. I think it is essential
that we see to it that that legislation is implemented.
If there are other things you believe that the United
States should be doing in furtherance of addressing these gross
human rights violations, I hope you will volunteer those to us
in the course of these proceedings.
Caesar. [Interpreted.] We call for the quick implementation
and keeping up with the deadlines and full implementation to
the letter of law of the Caesar bill. But what takes even
bigger priority than that are the people of Idlib. Idlib is
almost 4 million civilians in an ever shrinking space. There
must be a no-fly zone or there must be any way of stopping the
airplanes of Russia and the Assad regime from bombing the
civilians that have nowhere to run.
We know and the whole world knows that the United States is
the leader of the world and if it takes a leadership role, the
rest of the world will follow. The United States to us is the
leader of the free world.
Senator Young. Thank you, Caesar.
The Chairman. Thank you Senator Young. Senator Shaheen.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Caesar, thank you
for being here today and for your willingness to publicly call
out the Assad regime for its atrocities.
I would like to ask you a little bit about the detainees.
And do we know how many people are estimated to still be in
detention in prison held by the Assad regime?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] Senator, I do not know the exact
numbers, and I think most people do not know the exact numbers.
But according to many of the organizations and the experts that
we work with monitoring this, there is by conservative
estimate, about 215,000 people remaining in Assad's prisons.
Senator Shaheen. And are those prisons all across Syria or
are they concentrated around Damascus and the areas that Assad
has controlled for most of this war?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] In every part of Syria that the
Assad regime controls, we have these intelligence branches,
detention centers, and prisons.
Senator Shaheen. And I know that many of the detainees are
people who Assad views as enemies, as leaders of the civil war.
But has he rounded up other Syrians and is he detaining other
Syrians?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] At the beginning of the Syrian
revolution, I was in Syria working. I would see the people
being detained. They would bring them to the military police
headquarters where I worked. They are arrested randomly and
arbitrarily at checkpoints that are all over Damascus.
If, for example, your cellphone had in its history on
YouTube a single patriotic song that doesn't praise Assad,
that's enough to be arrested and never seen again. Even if
there's a picture of the revolutionary flag, even that's good
enough to be arrested.
Some people would put some of the songs, some of them that
are just patriotic songs, not even thinking of the political
implications, just something that is a good song. And that was
another reason that many of them were arrested.
And there are so many people. If you look at the pictures
that is a child, he's done nothing. And the lady behind you and
also elderly that were farmers or just people that were living
their lives.
So these hundreds of thousands that are in Assad's regime
prisons, the vast majority of them played no role in even being
any part of any armed opposition, and many of them didn't even
protest. They were just regular Syrian people arrested for
random, arbitrary reasons.
Senator Shaheen. Your photographs will be very important,
as there is an international effort which I hope will come at
some point to hold Assad and the other perpetrators of these
crimes accountable for what they've done. I also believe that
Russia and Iran are responsible for war crimes: the bombing of
hospitals of aid workers, of children in buses, and again, as
you say, I believe all of that was deliberate.
Is there evidence that's been collected that you're aware
of that can be used to hold those, Russia and Iran, accountable
for what they have done?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] The Syrian people have been very
creative in making sure that they document what is happening to
them. For me personally, I am focused in my expertise on my
photos in my files, so I don't have that.
But I can assure you that the Syrians every day are
documenting what is happening to them also at the hands of
Russia and Iran.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you and just have a final question.
I know that you are concerned about your security. Is that
because there is reason to believe that Assad has assassins who
would be interested in murdering you?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] The Assad regime but not only the
Assad regime; Russia and Iran as well. And I will give you
example of the Russian spy that was killed in the United
Kingdom by the Russians.
So I believe all those three criminal regimes are people
that are of concern for me.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Shaheen. Senator Gardner.
Senator Gardner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you,
Caesar, for being here today and sharing. Years ago, I saw a
front page story on a magazine. I think it was Time magazine.
It was a long time ago. It had a picture of a BlackBerry
cellphone on. It tells you how long ago it was.
The headline of the story was something like this. ``Could
the BlackBerry have prevented the Holocaust?'' or something
like that. It was a long time ago.
And the idea of the story was that a picture or a text or
an email sent on that BlackBerry about what was happening could
have brought international confirmation to what was happening
and hopefully international condemnation and action to end the
atrocities.
But today we know with more clarity the answer to that
front page story because we have pictures today. We have
witnesses, we have documentation, and we have the death full of
atrocity. And yet the murder goes on.
And so, the BlackBerry or today's equivalent, has not
stopped the grotesque violation against humanity. But the
knowledge that your pictures, your experience, your testimony
cannot be erased from humanity's memory. And so, now it's up to
this Congress, to responsible global leaders to take these
pictures, this testimony of these witnesses, these atrocities
to stop the extermination. To prove true that we can actually
take knowledge and act to end the depravity. To engage the
world in active solidarity against depravity, in defiance
against the idea that the blood of Assad's victims could
somehow be washed away and forgotten through complicity,
sanitized by countries willing to be active participants in the
complicity.
Cellphones and cameras together don't stop tragedy alone,
and they haven't. That's up to us to act. To do the hard work
of humanity and for humanity, to carry out sanctions, to build
coalitions, and to never leave a doubt about who could have
stopped the tragedy of our time.
So thank you. And I guess I don't know how to ask this
question or how to frame it. But given what we see here and
what we hear from you and what we know is happening and what we
see in the news and what reports every night share with us, how
would you describe the condition of hope for the people in
Syria or the condition of hope in Syria? How would you describe
hope?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] I want to start by saying that for
over 2 years I took photographs every day. I would take on
average about 30 photos a day. I would cry every single day.
They died in dark dungeons. I gave them my solemn promise that
I would bring their voice and that I would give it to
trustworthy hands. And I believe this is the place where those
trustworthy hands are to help us get accountability for Bashar
al-Assad.
Hope for me and the hope of the whole Syrian people is
today to be able to implement the only law that has passed, the
Caesar law. This is one of the very few rays of hope that we
hold on to. And this ray of hope in this law, for example,
which is not a magic bullet, is due to the lack of any military
or political solution or option on the table. The Assad regime
does not understand diplomacy or negotiations. It only
understands the credible threat of force and only understands
negotiating from a position of power.
He believes in this sort of jungle law, that he can kill
his way and kill everybody that ever stood against them and
those that did not. That is the only language that he speaks.
And the fact is, all of his supporters are just as vicious,
like Russia and Iran. And so, the only thing that Syrians are
going on is their hope of an end to the killing.
Senator Gardner. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Gardner. Senator Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Thank you so much, Caesar for time and
again, bringing your story and the photos to the consciousness
of the world.
The role that you played as a photographer. Why did the
Syrian regime want to have photos taken of what was happening
inside the security prisons?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] There's a longer answer, and I'll
give you a very brief summary of that.
First of all, the routine for us as the military policeman,
before even the uprising, was to take photos of any accidents
or incidents under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense.
That was the routine.
With the beginning of the revolution, there was a bit of
chaos within the regime's intelligence branches and security
apparatus. So one point is, no one, I think, sat and thought
about the danger of what we were doing. We were documenting
every single death that was happening. So we continued our
regular, actual routine because all of these people that were
being killed on a mass scale were being killed under the
auspices of the Ministry of Defense.
And I can tell you, based on some of the information that
we work on, the regime continues until today to document the
crimes that are happening in his prisons because he saw that
there is no accountability for that.
We, the Syrian people, understand the viciousness of this
regime.
Senator Merkley. As you did this work and you were inside
the institution and you were so deeply disturbed by it all, did
you sense that there were many others who were deeply disturbed
by this process of detention and torture and killing and did
others find ways to protest or to escape?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] So I worked in the military police
headquarters. In our full military police, we had about 5,000
individuals there. By the time I had left in 2013, after two
and a half years of doing my job, there was only about 700 or
500 people left from those 5,000.
And, you know, even the people that work within the regime
feared that this criminality could be done to them. In the
forensic evidence section when we would print the photos, we
would be afraid that a single tear might inadvertently come
down our face.
Because I am afraid, anyone that worked with us, we were
afraid of each other. If somebody saw an expression of sympathy
or a tear, because sympathy with a dead child or woman or man
will result in you being tortured to death.
And defection, by the way, is not an easy thing to do. A
lot of my friends broke their own hands inside the office on
purpose just to have a medical leave, to be able to go to
another town where his family is and never return. Because we
did not even have vacations except if there was a serious
medical condition.
And in the final period of time, even if you had a terrible
health issue, you were not even allowed to go and see your
family, fearing that they would escape. You can live or die in
the branch that you work in.
Senator Merkley. So today we do not have present
representatives of our executive branch of the Trump
administration. I wish they were here in the room to see your
pictures. And I hope that this testimony can motivate
implementation of the Caesar law quickly.
If they were here, what would you say to them?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] For 9 years, the United States has
watched as we have lived under bombardment and torture. We beg
of you as an administration to do right by the Syrian people,
to look at the Syrian people as fellow brothers and sisters in
humanity.
Simply, I would ask the Administration to, please, end the
killing in Syria.
Senator Merkley. Thank you and thank you, Mr. Chairman. And
I hope we can have representatives from the Administration
participate in hearings like this whenever possible.
The Chairman. Thank you Senator Merkley. Senator Romney.
Senator Romney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you,
Caesar, for being here and for carrying out your vitally
important work.
I am moved by your courage, by the passion which you have
to tell the world of what you have seen and what you have heard
and what you have experienced. I am moved by your willingness
to put yourself at risk to hopefully end some of the horror
which is occurring in your homeland.
I would note that what you are doing will hopefully not
only improve our commitment to protecting humanity, but it also
inspires us who are in this room and around the world. We are
more courageous as we see your courage. We are more willing to
speak and to stand for what is right when we see someone of
your stature who has done so in such an exemplary way.
What you have photographed and described today is
overwhelming. The mind simply cannot encompass what we are
seeing. It is horrifying. It is brutality beyond the
comprehension of the human spirit to consider.
I ask at this stage whether the torture and the brutality
has changed over the 9 years or whether it was as brutal and
awful from the beginning as it is now?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] I want to thank you sincerely for
your kind words. I am sure that the killing and the brutality
has only increased in Syria over those 9 years. The fact that
the entire world continues to be a bystander is only
perpetuating the escalation of the violence against humanity.
And I know because I served in the Syrian regime, that this
regime is a coward regime. But they have seen no reason to be
afraid. He used chemical weapons, including under President
Obama's administration. There was no response then. They told
him, ``Give away some of your chemical weapons.'' Is this how
we punish criminals: that if somebody stabs someone, you just
take away their knife?
But we hope that despite that the situation in Syria is
worse today than it ever was, we have hope in the American
people and government to put an end to the tragedy of Syria.
Senator Romney. Clearly, Bashar al-Assad is a butcher, a
torturer, a war criminal, and should be prosecuted as such if
we are able to eventually get our hands on him. Have Russia and
Iran participated in the same form of brutality, which suggests
that their leaders should be categorized in the same way.
Caesar. [Interpreted.] First of all, Iranian-backed
militias and Iranian security forces are entrenched throughout
regime-held areas of Syria. Many of them are the ones that are
leading the ground efforts against the Syrian people.
And Russia, even in a big way as well, has been responsible
for many crimes. Its air force is responsible for the killing
of countless civilians and the displacement of many others. And
so, the president and the leadership of both Iran and Russia,
are war criminals just like the Assad regime.
Senator Romney. I would note in my last few seconds, Mr.
Chairman, that there are some in the world who wonder why we
are engaged in the world, why America is involved in the
affairs of the world. And the reason is that when we are not
involved in the affairs of the world, awful things happen and
people suffer, and ultimately that suffering affects us even in
our own homes.
But even if it were not to do so, we have a responsibility
as members of the human race to stand for human decency and to
apply American leadership because we are the leader of the free
world. I say this not as a member of one party or another. I
say this as someone who has observed foreign affairs, that this
nation's leadership is essential to the preservation of human
rights and human dignity throughout the world and we are
involved in order to help protect those things.
The Chairman. Thank you Senator Romney. Senator Udall.
Senator Udall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank you,
Senator Menendez for holding this hearing.
Caesar, thank you so much for coming today. Thank you for
your bravery and thank you for your real dedication to bringing
out the atrocities that you have testified to today and I
understand some of the other panelists will be talking about
this, too, from what I have read.
I wanted to give you an example of how justice was brought
to another situation that might apply here and then ask you a
question.
In 2003, the United Nations and the government of Sierra
Leone jointly agreed to form the Special Court for Sierra Leone
in order to bring those responsible for violations of
international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law to
justice. This was in response to many of the atrocities that
occurred during conflicts in Sierra Leone and which emanated
from its neighbor Liberia under the control, at the time, of
Charles Taylor.
Charles Taylor was indicted and tried in this court many
years after he fled Liberia in 2003, under pressure from both
troops from the Economic Community of West African States and
U.S. troops offshore, he fled to Nigeria, where he was
eventually captured. A capture that was aided by a $2 million
reward authorized by Congress in 2003.
But this was an effort that also had strong international
backing. The U.N. Security Council played a central role
authorizing the Special Court to try him in The Hague for the
crimes he committed. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to
50 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Among his crimes were violations of the Geneva Conventions,
acts of terrorism, murder, cruel treatment of persons, and
other inhumane acts.
In 2014, moving forward now, a number of years under the
leadership of President Obama, the U.N. Security Council
attempted to take similar action against those who committed
crimes inside Syria. The Security Council considered a
resolution to refer the situation in Syria to the International
Criminal Court.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power argued that the resolution,
and I'm quoting from her, ``was about accountability for crimes
so extensive and deadly that they had few equals in modern
history. It was also about accountability on the part of the
Security Council. It was the Council's responsibility to stop
atrocities if it could, and to ensure that the perpetrators of
atrocities were held accountable at a minimum.'' That's the end
of her quote.
Unfortunately, the resolution was blocked by China and
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's ally, Russia. All of the
panelists have helped bring forward and bring to light the
atrocities inside Syria. We are grateful for your work. It also
took many years for Charles Taylor to be brought to justice,
but ultimately justice was served.
Do you believe that the U.S. should continue to insist that
the U.N. Security Council refer the case of Syrian war crimes
to the International Criminal Court?
Caesar. [Interpreted.] Absolutely, I believe in that. And I
am full of hope and I believe that we will also reach justice.
We will reach accountability for these criminals.
But we also understand whether we do get to the
International Criminal Court or whichever way we reach justice,
it will be a very long road. But we are doing what our
consciousness and our humanity obligates us to do. And we are
even pursuing several national prosecutions in Europe.
For example, in Germany, we were able to get the German
government to put out an arrest warrant, for example for Jamil
Hassan, the former head of the Air Force Intelligence Branch.
And we hope that the United States is able to get the Security
Council to put the Syrian case and to put the dictator Bashar
al-Assad before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Senator Udall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator. Senator Perdue.
Senator Perdue. I'll yield my time at this point.
The Chairman. Thank you. Well, thank you very much, Caesar
for being with us today. We admire your bravery. We appreciate
your bringing to the attention of the world these things, so
they could be described in words. There's no substitute for
photographs.
I have no doubt that at some point in time your 55,000
photographs will be used and the people who did those things,
those photographs will be put in front of them and in front of
the people who will hopefully dispense justice to them. Thank
you again for being here today.
Caesar. [Interpreted.] Thank you all so much. I am
confident that all of you will stand by us, will stand by the
Syrian people.
The Chairman. You can be assured of that. Thank you. With
that we will end this part of the panel. We ask everyone to
retain their seats for a moment while we reconfigure the room.
Thank you.
We will now hear from our second panel. Our first witness
is Omar Alshogre. Omar Alshogre is a former detainee in the
Assad regime's vast network of prisons. He spent nearly 2 years
in detention in Syrian Intelligence Branch 215, where he
numbered the bodies of dead torture victims that later appeared
in the photos in the Caesar file. While detained, Omar learned
that most of his family and village were killed.
After Branch 215, Omar was moved to Saydnaya prison, dubbed
the worst place on earth, where he survived for a year before
finally being released. Omar eventually traveled to Europe and
arrived in Sweden, where he has resided since. Today he is a
member of the Caesar Team and the Syrian Emergency Task Force.
With that, we will hear from him, and then we will move to our
second witness.
STATEMENT OF OMAR ALSHOGRE, DIRECTOR OF DETAINEE ISSUES, SYRIAN
EMERGENCY TASK FORCE
Mr. Alshogre. Thank you, members of this committee, for
inviting me to testify.
As I am talking to you right now, people are scared in
Idlib Province. Children are dying. They face constant
bombardment. Schools, hospitals, and bakeries have all been
targeted. All day every day, civilians live in fear of the
regime, Russia, and Iran. During the humanitarian disaster in
Idlib, we cannot forget why so many people have come to this
desperate place to evade the very same detention I faced for
over 3 years. When the regime advance and takes another
village, those cities become like cities of ghosts. Innocent
men, women, and children either die, flee, or end up in
detention centers like me. What I am going to tell you in the
coming few minutes is a story, true story.
My father left me on the street of my hometown, Baniyas, on
March 18th of 2011. Before he departed, he whispered a few
words in my ears. Guess what it was? I had participated in the
demonstrations, and for only for asking for freedom, I was
arrested, and I was tortured. I was confused. I did not
understand why they arrested me. I was 15 years old. I did not
really understand the situation and what was going on, and I
was as like every other kid on this planet. They think police
is like somebody who protects you. That is what I thought about
the police even in Syria, especially that my father was an
officer. He retired in 2009, but still for me it was that my
dad was an officer. He protected me and that is what the police
should do.
In prison, they tortured me, and my torturer forced me to
say that I have killed, I had weapons, but that did not come
that easy. He had to pull out my fingernails out of my fingers
first before I give this false confession. I was only 15 years
old when the guard open scarred on my body. I was only 15 years
when my life experience became nearly too much to bear. I was
only 15 years old when I wished to die.
I remember one good thing from prison. One month something
was different. I didn't know what is going on, but we got less
torture, we got more food, and the guards were not screaming
anymore. They were not burning our bodies with their
cigarettes. They were giving us one full potato instead of half
one. When I got out of prison, I tried to match what happened
on this day and this month when I was in prison when I got more
food than usual, what happened outside. It was when Caesar's
pictures been released. Everybody around the world was talking
about prisoners and what is going on in Syria's prison.
That is why we have to speak. That is why we have to do
anything, even just write on Twitter or talk or have testimony.
This testimony give hope for a lot of people.
I just published yesterday on social media that I am going
to be testifying together with Caesar and Raed, and people were
too kind, those who say it is amazing, something may happen,
they may help us doing something. And other people who say that
happened before, they know more than what you know about your
own experience, they are not going to change anything. Let us
show them the opposite.
I remember one Tuesday, a beautiful Tuesday, when I was in
Saydnaya Prison. It was the night of June 2015. I already been
in prison 3 years and experienced all kind of torture, and I
was starving. But the guard opened the door and he said,
``Omar.'' The only time they says your name in Saydnaya prison
is when they are going to kill you. They took me from a room.
They killed somebody who was next to me, asked me to pull him
outside of the room. I pulled his body out. I looked at his
face. It was my best friend at that time.
The guards took me, isolated me in room for 48 hours, and
every single hour, day and night, when the watch of the guard,
he comes and ask me a question. How do you want me to kill you?
Be creative. I was forced to give 68 answers, answer for 48
because not all of them was nice or good enough for him to
enjoy killing me. After 48 hours, they pulled me out of the
room, took me in the car, blindfolded my eyes, my hands tied
behind me, and they put me in the street facing the ground. The
officer is walking slowly behind me, and I am scared because I
do not want to see how they are going to kill me. I did not
know. He walks, talks about my death, then he just got silent.
And ``load,'' ``aim.'' It did not go that quickly. It took a
billion years for me between ``load'' and ``aim.'' It takes a
long time. Then he said, ``shoot.'' Poof.
And I died for the first time. I never died before. I did
not know how it feels or what is going to happen. Have any of
you died before, can explain how it feels to die? I did not--so
I was just thinking, wow, finally the afterlife. I woke up
still alive, did not know what happened. The guy they killed in
the room when they come to take me was a guy who was supposed
to be released. They killed him. They put my name on his face,
and they took me outside of prison because it was my day to be
executed. Took me outside of prison with his name because my
mother paid $20,000 to an officer to get me out of prison. She
did not know how, but my mom want me to be alive after they
killed my father and my siblings in an attack on our village in
Syria.
When the regime takes an area, people will die, flee, or
get arrested. That is what happened to them. What I mentioned
just was the mental torture you experience by the Syrian
regime. I did not talk about the physical because it is not
going to help you understand because the physical torture, you
do not understand it if you do not experience it.
So what is waiting people in Idlib is the same thing if we
do not help them. The people of Syria are suffering. They may
be used to pain, but it is not pain who breaks people. It is
fear. They fear not being able to feed their children. They
fear being arrested, captured, and tortured to death. It is not
the torture that was the worst. It is waiting for torture that
was the worst.
Sometimes it seems impossible to help these people, but as
Nelson Mandela said, ``it always seems impossible until it is
done.'' We have to do something. And I want to conclude by
quoting the words of your own President when he said, ``Assad
is an animal.'' I hope you all agree with him. I do. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Alshogre follows:]
Prepared Statement of Omar Alshogre
Thank you members of this committee for inviting me to testify.
As you read my testimony now, in Idlib civilians face a constant
onslaught from the regime and its foreign backers, Russia and Iran.
They face constant bombardment. Schools, hospitals, and bakeries have
all been targeted. In the midst of this massive humanitarian disaster,
one cannot forget that the reason so many have come to this desperate
place is to evade the very same detention I faced for over 3 years.
When the regime advances and seizes another village, people either die,
flee, or end up in detention centers like me and those cities became
cities of ghosts. And here's a brief taste of what happened in
detention centers:
The Syrian regime first arrested me on April 12th, 2011 at the
center of my hometown, the village of al-Bayda near Baniyas city. when
I was 15 years old. They arrested me for only participating in non-
violent demonstrations.
There I got my first taste of what was to come--I spent two nights
in jail and experienced torture for the first time. I for the first
time braced as I endured electric shocks. I for the first time knew how
it felt for my nails to be pulled from my fingers.
The regime released me thanks to the marches of women in Baniyas
and al-Bayda. These women took to the streets to demand the release of
their family and community members. I returned to my hometown, but
faced arrest after arrest for no reason but for going to school or
belonging to the Alshogre family.
On November 16th, 2012, the regime arrested me for the final time.
I spent 3 years in many different prisons in different Syrian cities,
but mostly in Damascus. I was only 17 years old.
Over a period of almost 3 years, the regime tortured me alongside
my three cousins--Bashir (born in 1990), Rashad (1992), and Nour
(1995)--who had been arrested with me. Guards pulled out our
fingernails--sparing only Nour of this burden given that she was a
girl. They threw us naked into small cells stained with the blood of
former detainees who had suffered their torture as well.
At the time of the last arrest, we were taken first to the military
intelligence branch in Baniyas. We spent around 4 hours there before
being transferred to a military intelligence branch in Tartus where we
spent the following 20 days. Next, we were transferred to a police
station in the same city, Tartus, for 7 days and then we were
transferred to al-Balouna police station in Homs. Again we were
transferred, this time to al-Qaboun in Damascus, then to an unknown
place near al-Qaboun, then to Branch 291 where we spent the last hours
before being transferred to Branch 215 on December 13, 2012. I spent
around 1 year and 8 months in Branch 291 before being sent to Branch
248 for a few hours, then again to al-Qaboun, then finally to Saydnaya
prison on August 15, 2014. I was then sent to al-Qaboun for court on
the 8th of September 2014 and to the court at the 9th before being sent
back to Saydnaya on the 10th of September 2014. I was then smuggled out
of the country on June 11, 2015.
in the tartus military intelligence branch
I was first isolated in a small cell with my hands tied and my eyes
blindfolded. In my first 7 days there, guards took me from my cell to
the corridor where most of the torture happens. On those days, I spent
16 hours standing on my feet being tortured on and off physically. But
the mental torture was constant. They put me in a German electric chair
or in a car tire. When I wasn't physically tortured, the sound of my
cousins screaming in pain instantly soured any relief I felt. I can
still hear the screams of my cousin, Bashir, when the guards dug into
his back with a screwdriver. My other cousin, Rashad, lost most of his
hair on his body, which the guards took amusement in burning. I could
hear him crying and screaming of the pain while the guards laughed
loudly. Rashad was the first of us to be hung up to the ceiling by
shackles on his wrist. I was next.
In the first 2 days, the guards didn't ask questions. They only
tortured. Later, however, they started asking me questions like ``how
many officers have you killed?'' I thought the guards were kidding
because I knew I had killed no one. I answered their queries with quiet
laughter. For this they beat my face and subjected me to electric
shocks. They tortured me for 6 days. They strung me up and hung me on
the ceiling. They again put me in a car tire and pulled my nails. They
whipped me with cables and sticks. When I could no longer bear it, I
told them what they wanted to hear: ``Yes, I killed officers.''
For the guards, the specifics of said guards--and even whether they
ever lived or died--did not matter. They expected me to admit I had
killed officers, and that was all that mattered. They wanted me to
write a confession to give a legalistic facade to their dungeon of
horrors. On the 6th day, the guards threatened that they would rape my
cousin Nour before my very eyes if I did not confess to the murder of
ten officers and possession of a weapon. They coerced me to state that
I had worked as a spy for the United States and Israel. I didn't speak
any word of English then and didn't even know what a terrorist was at
the time.
On the 10th day, Bashir and I were taken to our village to the spot
where, under torture, I had said I buried my non-existent weapons. The
soldiers dug a hole, threw me in it, and buried me alive. For some
reason, right as I was about to suffocate, they pulled me out of the
grave. We returned back to Tartus branch--where the most extreme
varieties of torture and horror were commonplace. The guards again
asked the same questions, but I didn't remember what I admitted to
before. They tortured me more. They threatened they would arrest my mom
and sisters if I did not say I committed crimes.
Bashir's body was scarred. Rashad's ribs broke before we left the
Tartus Military Intelligence Branch. My bones were broken as well.
Blistering wounds freckled my skin where the guards amused themselves
by putting out their cigarettes.
in tartus police station
The guards forced my cousins and me to clean the toilets while
enduring torture. Back in the cells, during our ``sleep time,''
arrested government soldiers tortured us. In reality, there never was a
break. Our meager food was always stolen by these imprisoned soldiers.
Our scars got their attention and their torture deepened our wounds.
The officers told the imprisoned soldiers there that my cousins and I
had previously carried weapons and killed officers so they tortured us
and we could not sleep in peace.
in al-qaboun
The guard hit me on my face until one of my teeth broke. My cousin,
Nour, was still with us but isolated in a different, all-female room.
The guards fed us either potatoes or bread and even sometimes eggs. But
we could not eat the food because it was mixed with blood and hair. The
guards all seemed to enjoy torturing people. They forced us naked and
transmitted electric shocks to our genitalia. We tried to tell them
that we are innocent. But, to the guards, innocence did not matter.
in branch 291
We spent around 6 hours continually tortured without any
questioning. Later, we were transferred to Branch 215, known as ``the
branch of slow death.''
in branch 215
We were put in a room under the ground with hundred of people.
These people looked worse than death itself: broken arms and legs,
decaying and vanishing teeth, blue bruises peaking through the few
spots not covered in blood. Maggots ate at their flesh and the blood
covered their skin. The room was so packed that there was not enough
space to sit. We stood until we got dizzy and then we would fall over,
onto people who then would hit us because we had fallen on their
wounds. We endured 4 days of standing and falling then standing again
until the guard took us to the first floor where we were divided to
three different groups for scheduled torture. I faced the wall waiting
my turn to be hit while a guards tortured a woman in the same room. I
heard the voice of two kids with us in the room--her two children. By
his or her cry, I could tell the youngest of them wasn't much more than
an infant. The guards tortured and raped her. They forced her to say
that she had killed officers and that her husband had too. I remember
the sound when her younger child was thrown hard on the ground. Like a
child's delayed reaction to a fall, it took some seconds before the
child could cry. Later, this woman's husband, who was held in the same
cell as me, told me that the blow had killed his child. Both he and his
wife were forced to say that they were terrorists.
My turn came. They asked me to confess that my cousin Nour made
bombs. I knew her as a strong student in high school--never as a bomb-
maker. Again, the truth didn't matter to the officers. My cousins and I
were thrown back to our room after hours of torture. Since none of us
could stand and our knees had been smashed in torture, we lied over
other peoples bodies. We were lucky that some of those people were dead
so they didn't protest.
On March 15, 2013, Rashad died from the pain of his broken ribs and
starvation. Rashad was a hero. He used to donate some of his food to
sick prisoners. He was beloved for his kindness and respected by
everybody around him. He was carried to the ``Azel room,''--a sort of
isolation room or mortuary where the guards collected dead bodies
before taking them upstairs to a truck and driving them away. When
Rashad's body arrived in the dead room, a guy who looked to be in
better shape than all other prisoners, gave me a pen and asked me to
write a number on Rashad's forehead. This later became my job. In
Branch 215, I numbered the dead bodies of my fellow inmates and, with
help of other prisoners, carried them into the truck on the ground
floor.
In 2013, the regime arrested another of my cousins and put him in
the same jail as Bashir and myself. His name was Hassan. He told me
that my family had been killed--cut down and burned--alongside with
tens of my other relatives in a massacre perpetrated by regime forces
in my village al-Bayda on May 2, 2013.
Until March 2014, Bashir couldn't think about anything else than
what he would do if he got out of prison. He wondered how he would
respond when his mother asked him ``where is your younger brother?''
Those thoughts--alongside all the torture, sickness, and starvation--
robbed him of hope. He died on March 3, 2014. I carried him in my arms
back from the toilet. Bashir was my closest friend in prison. He gave
me a reason to smile and to continue to be alive. His death was the
first to break me--and the first to make me unbreakable.
After Rashad and Bashir, I witnessed the guards taking Hassan to
his death. At this time and after that I witnessed the death of
thousands of prisoners of all different nationalities and walks of
life. All the while, I numbered their bodies. I even numbered my
cousins and my best friend. I could see my face on every dead body I
numbered. During my time in Branch 215, I got sick repeatedly. I was
afforded no medicine or medical attention whatsoever. The only thing
that protected us was the angel of death. During my time there, I met
two prisoners who had been arrested since 2008. They told me they were
until recently kept on the 6th floor of Branch 215. There, they had met
international prisoners. During a period of time, the guards would
search for prisoners who spoke English. Those who could speak English
were taken to translate between the guards and the non-Arabic speaking
prisoners. It was these same people who inevitably numbered the day
after they were taken to translate. Their selection and deaths are the
strongest evidence I have for the presence of the non-Arabic speaking
prisoners in the regime's political prisons.
I had been the youngest detainee in Branch 215 until a 12-year old
child joined our cell. I remember him crying and asking for his mom. I
remember him and the other children scared and ashamed after being
raped by the guards. I remember the guards laughing when they spoke of
raping them again. In prison, we were Muslims, Christians, Atheists--
all sharing the same kind of torture. All of us were forced to fight to
eat, fight to drink, and fight to survive for just one more day.
in the court
The guards took me to a room and forced my fingerprints on some
papers I hadn't read. They had blindfolded me. I could hear screams of
pain even in the court.. I was taken to stand in front of a judge and I
felt some hope for the first time in a while. Then he asked me ``how
many people have you killed?'' I answered ``none.'' He told me to ``get
out.'' That was my one day in court.
in saydnaya prison
The level of torture in Saydnaya ``the slaughter house,'' was
incomparable even with what I had experienced earlier. Saydnaya was
worse than pain, more horrible than anything previous to it, worse than
death. Someone near to where I was in Saydnaya told the guards he was
sick. They called the prison doctor who told him they needed no sick
people in Saydnaya and executed him. They ordered me to pull him to the
dead room. There, I saw people who seems like they have died of many
different reasons--including torture, starvation, and the removal of
organs
Between August 2015 and June 2015, a lot of people died. A lot of
children became orphans and a lot of women became widows. The guards
gave some people knives and asked them to choose between their life and
that of their kin. The guards could starve us in days then give food to
five of a hundred people. They would instigate a fight between the
starving mass and those recently given some small amount of food. The
guards would put a pile of food in the corner of our room and force us
to look at it for days without being allowed to eat it. The shower days
in the winter saw the most deaths.
On June 9th, 2015, I was taken to an empty room where I spent 48
hours being asked by the guards at every single hour the same question
over and over ``how would you like me to kill you? Be creative.'' They
forced me to give different creative answers of how they could enjoy
killing me. Behind the scenes, a huge amount of money was paid to an
officer and judge to help smuggling me outside Saydnaya before my
execution. They killed someone else who was set for release and saved
me in his place. After a mock execution, they carried me off. I didn't
know what was going on. I just woke up in the middle of nowhere covered
in blood and unable to open my eyes. The sun shone over my head for the
first time after almost 3 years. I managed to get myself to Damascus
and get my way out of the country. The regime stopped me at a
checkpoint and again brought me to the brink of execution near Idlib.
However, my tuberculosis-borne coughs of blood scared the soldiers and
in a panic they released me into rebel-held areas. From there I made it
to Turkey, where I found out that my mom and some of my siblings had
survived the 2013 massacre and escaped to Turkey after the death of my
father and brothers. My mom had paid the money to smuggle me out of
prison. She didn't know the money she'd paid was the cost to save my
life.
on my way to europe/legal cases
For seeking treatment, I was forced to risk my life again by
sitting on a rubber boat with tens of people in a dark night to go to
Greece in the end of 2015. Greece didn't provide me any healthcare so I
continued to travel through North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia,
Austria, Germany, and Denmark. Finally, on December 1st, 2015, I
entered Sweden--the country that treated me the best and gave me what
was necessary to survive and even thrive. I started to learn Swedish
early in the hospital during treatment. Over the past 5 years, I've
learned to speak it fluently. Later, I learned Norwegian before
starting to focus on learning English in 2018.
I believe in justice and accountability for those who committed
such heinous acts against myself and so many others. For this reason, I
have testified to the Swedish police and worked alongside other
survivors in legal cases in Germany, France, Sweden, Spain and Norway
for war crimes committed by the regime against the Syrian civilians. I
have felt immense concern for my safety since the regime actors
contacted me threatening that I should remain silent or fear for my
life. I refuse to be silent. Bringing Syria's war criminals to justice
needs the support of the United States to protect innocent people and
right past wrongs. I look to the United States to be the voice for the
voiceless people, not only in Syria, but around the world.
The Chairman. It is powerful testimony, Mr. Alshogre. Thank
you. We will have some questions for you in a moment. We are
going to turn now to our second witness, Mr. Raed Al Saleh. Mr.
Al Saleh is the head of the Syrian Civil Defence, more commonly
known as the White Helmets. He manages this network of over
2,800 volunteers who have saved over 120,000 lives in Syria. He
is originally from Idlib, and he is a father of two. Mr. Al
Saleh, the floor is yours.
STATEMENT OF RAED AL SALEH, HEAD OF THE SYRIA CIVIL DEFENCE
[WHITE HELMETS]
Mr. Al Saleh. [Interpreted.] First of all, thank you for
giving us this opportunity to talk about what is happening in
Idlib. What was said by both Caesar and Omar gives a very
harrowing glimpse of the horrors that are faced by the Syrian
people, but I will speak about a different perspective.
My name is Raed Al Saleh: I am the head of the Syria Civil
Defence, popularly known as the White Helmets, this
organization of 2,500 men and 300 women, who have dedicated
their lives to saving others. When the bombs rained down, we
rushed to dig lives from under the rubble. Since our formation
in 2013, we have saved more than 120,000 lives in Syria. 282
volunteers have been killed in the line of duty, deliberately
targeted by the Syrian regime and Russia. We rescue people
regardless of their ethnicity, religion, gender, or politics.
We have rescued our own family members, complete strangers, and
even Assad regime soldiers.
Our motto and inspiration comes from the universal teaching
found in the Quran that reads, ``Whoever saves one life, it is
as if they have saved all of humanity.'' Yet for all the lives
we have saved, death is beating us. For every Syrian that we
have saved, there are five that we have lost. If only we could
stop the bombs, we could save almost every single one.
I am here today to convey the voices of the millions of
civilians in Idlib who wake up every day fearing death. Idlib,
once an idyllic, rural province known for its olives and
cherries has been turned into hell on earth. Since Russia's
intervention in 2015, the number of internally-displaced people
has doubled to 8 million. The relentless aerial bombardment and
use of siege to retake areas like Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta has
forced millions to evacuate to Idlib. Now there is not another
Idlib, nowhere else left to flee to, and so nearly 4 million
civilians are trapped. The area is roughly the size of the
State of Rhode Island. Its pre-war population of 300,000 has
increased by more than tenfold.
Since the beginning of the Idlib offensive, the Assad
regime, backed by Russian air power and Iranian proxy militias,
has launched a systematic campaign targeting all civilian
infrastructure. Water points, hospitals, White Helmet centers,
food markets, schools, and bakeries have all been targeted and
bombed. Nearly everything that can help civilians survive has
been destroyed, and the vast majority of people are struggling
to access basic shelter, food, and medicine.
I was in Idlib just weeks ago. There are no words to
describe the apocalyptic horrors I witnessed there. Numbers are
no longer useful as the horror cannot be quantified, so I will
tell you a story. I saw a father in Idlib standing on the side
of the road with a sign reading, ``I will sell my kidney for a
tent.'' Can you imagine being so desperate to just provide
shelter for your family?
I did not come here to talk about humanitarian needs.
Senators, I want to be very clear in this hallowed institution.
What is happening in Syria is not an earthquake or hurricane
that can be solved with humanitarian aid funding. No amount of
money can stop a single barrel bomb falling over a child's bed.
No amount of money can return a single displaced family to
their home. We deeply appreciate the U.S. government's support
to the White Helmets and urge your support in making sure the
Syrian people's needs are met, but more funding to us will not
solve the problem either.
The ambulances we purchase with your funding are being
pursued by Russian drones and deliberately bombed. Russia has
destroyed millions of dollars' worth of our U.S.-funded
equipment. When you give us more money, what you are telling us
is that you will not stop the atrocities, and that, instead, we
must purchase more ambulances to transport more injured
civilians, order new cranes to lift collapsed concrete crushing
entire families, and buy more protective clothing to deal with
chemical attacks. Raising funds to alleviate the suffering does
not work any better than giving painkillers to a cancer
patient. What is needed is the political will to act to protect
civilians.
The overwhelming majority of the suffering results from one
cause: the absolute impunity with which the Syrian regime and
Russia bomb civilians from the sky. Yes, we have other evils,
too: the thousands of Iranian proxy forces, known for their
sectarian brutality, and other extremist groups who have
similarly terrorized civilians. But it is the unimpeded aerial
bombardment which is the primary cause of death, destruction,
and displacement of civilians. The aerial bombardment is the
primary cause of the refugee exodus to Europe, which has
empowered far-right parties. The aerial bombardment and the
West's unwillingness to stop it is the primary recruitment tool
for ISIS and terrorist groups.
So today I ask you to use your power to end the root cause
of all the suffering by taking real action to clear the skies
above Syria. Since 2011, we have been told all the reasons why
intervention to protect civilians is impossible, but who has
considered the consequences of not acting?
The consequences of the world's inaction cannot be confined
to Syria's borders. Meeting the most basic humanitarian needs
will cost billions a month. Millions more refugees will flee
Syria to Europe's safer shores. No border wall can contain
them. An entire generation of children will be left uneducated.
Extremist groups will foment in the chaos, necessitating future
global coalitions and trillions of dollars to defeat new
threats. Does this sound more possible? Does this cost sound
more reasonable than acting to stop the atrocities being
committed now? Turkey's intervention last month shattered the
myth that the use of force to stop hostilities might cause
further escalation. In fact, the opposite happened. After
Turkey's brief military intervention last week, there was a
complete stop in aerial attacks, but Turkey cannot do this
alone. It needs your support and leadership.
The enforcement of a national ceasefire by all means
necessary will create the conditions for real, internationally-
backed peace talks, including accountability for all
perpetrators of mass atrocities and war crimes. For I still
believe in the values that the Syrian revolution called for in
March 2011, the values of democracy practiced in this building
every day, and which can be practiced in Syria, too. With
support of people around the world, we Syrians can rebuild our
country into a free, peaceful democratic Syria that operates
beyond the evils of the regime and extremists.
I do not wish to sit here in 2025 detailing the suffering
of yet another unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Syria,
to speak of several hundred thousand more lives lost, the
millions still without a home, and paying tribute to hundreds
more White Helmets who will have been killed saving lives. As
we enter the 10th year of war, the world has run out of words.
Now is the time for action. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Al Saleh follows:]
Prepared Statement of Raed Al Saleh
My name is Raed al-Saleh. I am the head of the Syria Civil
Defence--popularly known as the White Helmets--an organization of 2,500
men and 300 women who have dedicated their lives to saving others. When
the bombs rain down, we rush to dig life from under the rubble. Since
our formation in 2013, we have saved more than 120,000 lives in Syria.
282 volunteers have been killed in the line of duty, deliberately
targeted by the Syrian regime and Russia.
We rescue people regardless of their ethnicity, religion, gender,
or politics. We have rescued our own family members, complete
strangers, and Assad regime soldiers. Our motto and inspiration comes
from the universal teaching found in the Qu'ran, that reads: ``Whoever
saves one life, it is as if they have saved all of humanity.''
Yet for all the lives we have saved, death is beating us. For every
Syrian that we've saved, there are five that we've lost. If only we
could stop the bombs, we could save almost every single one.
I am here today to represent the millions of civilians in Idlib who
wake up everyday fearing death.
Idlib, once an idyllic rural province known for its olives and
cherries has been turned into hell on earth.
Since Russia's intervention in 2015, the number of internally
displaced people has doubled to 8 million; the relentless aerial
bombardment and use of siege to retake areas like Aleppo and Eastern
Ghouta has forced millions to ``evacuate'' to Idlib. Now there isn't
another Idlib, nowhere else left to flee to and so nearly 4 million
civilians are trapped. The area is roughly the size of Rhode Island--
its pre-war population of 300,000 has increased by more than tenfold.
Since the beginning of the Idlib offensive the Syrian regime,
backed by Russian airpower and Iranian proxy militias, has launched a
systematic campaign targeting all civilian infrastructure: water
points, hospitals, White Helmets centers, food markets, schools and
bakeries. Nearly everything that can help civilians survive has been
destroyed and the vast majority of people are struggling to access
basic shelter, food and medicine.
I was in Idlib three weeks ago. There are no words to describe the
apocalyptic horrors I witnessed there. Numbers are no longer useful as
the horror cannot be quantified so I will tell you two stories.
The first is of a father standing on the side of the road, with a
sign reading: `Will sell my kidney for a tent'. Can you imagine being
so desperate to just provide shelter for your family?
The other is when I visited the thousands of families living under
olive groves with no protection or facilities--many don't even have
tents. I asked a grandmother what she needed most. She didn't say what
you might expect: food, water, a blanket. She just asked for a toilet
so she might have some dignity. How is it that the great Syrian people,
the birthplace of civilization, the creators of the first alphabet from
the fifteenth century BCE are now dreaming of a toilet? Abandonment has
made our dreams very small.
I did not come here to talk about humanitarian needs. I want to be
very clear in this hallowed institution: what is happening in Syria is
not an earthquake or hurricane that can be solved with humanitarian aid
funding. No amount of money can stop a single barrel bomb falling over
a child's bed. No amount of money can return a single displaced family
to their home.
We deeply appreciate the U.S. Government's support to the White
Helmets, and urge your support in making sure our needs are met, but
more funding to us will not solve the problem either. The ambulances we
purchase with your funding are being pursued by Russian drones, and
deliberately bombed. Russia has destroyed millions of dollars worth of
our U.S.-funded equipment. When you give us more money, what you are
telling us is that you will not stop the atrocities, and that instead
we must purchase more ambulances to transport more injured civilians,
order new cranes to lift collapsed concrete crushing entire families,
and buy more protective clothing to deal with chemical attacks.
Raising funds to alleviate the suffering does not work any better
than giving painkillers to a cancer patient. How much longer will the
international community pursue this strategy before concluding it
doesn't work?
What is needed is the political will to act to protect civilians.
The overwhelming majority of the suffering results from one cause:
the absolute impunity with which the Syrian regime and Russia bomb
civilians from the sky. Yes, we have other evils too: the thousands of
Iranian proxy forces, known for their sectarian brutality, and ISIS and
Al-Qaeda who have similarly terrorized civilians. But it is the
unimpeded aerial bombardment which is the primary cause of death,
destruction, and displacement of civilians. The aerial bombardment is
the primary cause of the refugee exodus to Europe which has empowered
far right parties. The aerial bombardment, and the West's unwillingness
to stop it, is the primary recruitment tool for ISIS and Al-Qaeda. So
today I ask you to use your power to end the root cause of all this
suffering by taking real action to clear the skies above Syria.
Since 2011, we have been told all the reasons why intervention to
protect civilians is impossible. But who has considered the possibility
of not acting? The costs of the world's inaction cannot be confined to
Syria's borders. Meeting the most basic humanitarian needs will cost
billions a month. Millions more refugees will flee Syria to Europe's
safer shores; no border wall can contain them. An entire generation of
children will be left uneducated. Extremist groups will ferment in the
chaos, necessitating future global coalitions and trillions of dollars
to defeat them. Does this sound more possible than acting to stop the
atrocities being committed now?
Turkey's intervention last month shattered the myth that the use of
force to stop hostilities might cause further escalation--in fact the
opposite happened. After Turkey's brief military intervention last
week, there was a complete stop in aerial attacks. But Turkey cannot do
this alone. It needs your support.
The enforcement of a national ceasefire--by all means necessary--
will help create the conditions for real, internationally-backed peace
talks, including accountability for all perpetrators of mass atrocities
and war crimes. For I still believe in the values that the Syrian
Revolution called for in March 2011, the values of democracy practiced
in this building every single day, and which can be practiced in Syria
too. With support of people around the world, we Syrians can rebuild
our country into a free, peaceful, democratic Syria that operates
beyond the evils of the regime and extremists.
I do not wish to sit here in 2025 detailing the suffering of yet
another unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, several
hundred thousand more lives lost, the millions still without a home,
and paying tribute to hundreds more White Helmets who have been killed
saving lives.
As we enter the 10th year of war, the world has run out of words.
Now is the time for action.
The Chairman. Thank you very much. Both of you have given
very powerful testimony to our committee. Senator Menendez.
Senator Menendez. Well, Mr. Chairman, I have to say that
questions are not valuable when you hear the testimony of Mr.
Alshogre, who is extraordinary at such a young age to have to
recount it so many times and relive it, and Mr. Al Saleh's
tremendous work with the White Helmets. You know, I sat here as
the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee a time, and we
approved an AUMF to stop Assad when he was using chemical
weapons. And it had a limited value because it was only pursued
to give up those weapons that we knew at the time. I passed
legislation to help the then-independent Syrian forces that we
thought could ultimately change the tide in their own country.
At this point, I hope that your testimony and Caesar's
testimony before you pricks the conscience of this nation.
There are some things that we can do. We can immediately seek
implementation of the Caesar Act, and begin to create a
consequence for those who are committing these horrific acts.
What more testimony do we need? What more visualization do we
need? We can do something like the Administration changing its
decision to zero out the resettlement of Syrian refugees to the
United States, refugees who are the most heavily vetted of any
group that may come to the United States.
Tomorrow the Trump administration could start a Syrian
refugee resettlement as a message to the world that we need to
take care of those who are fleeing. And tomorrow we could start
an effort of a surge in international efforts to hold those
accountable and to seek a true ceasefire and an implementation
of it. These are things that take political will. It is a will
that has not been forthcoming from our country, and that is not
unique to this Administration either.
So I hope that this testimony that is riveting--I could ask
you about assistance from humanitarian organizations. I could
ask you about what else we could do, but you have said it so
aptly. Giving me more money to buy more ambulances that will
get bombed by the Russians is not going to solve the horrific
violence. So for myself, I will seek to find ways in which we
can prick the conscience of our colleagues, and of this
Administration, and of others who can ultimately cast a garish
light upon these horrific acts of violence, and to seek a
movement that begins to change the course of events, because
that is what we ultimately seek to serve for: to change the
course of the events for the better, both here and abroad. And
I appreciate your testimony in that regard. I have no questions
for you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Menendez. Senator Perdue.
Senator Perdue. Well, to say that, sitting in this moment
of luxury and safety here in the United States Capitol, we are
chagrined and horrified about what you have told us today would
not do you honor. I do have a question. I want to allow you to
speak more about this. I agree with Senator Menendez. This is
not about American politics. This is about human life in Syria.
What you went through, Omar, as a 15-year-old shocks me, and I
want to thank you for being here and having the guts to be
here, and, Mr. Al Saleh, thank you for the White Helmets and
your leadership. But we have to hold these people accountable,
and we have to stop the killing.
You mentioned clearing the skies. There were some of us who
supported a no-fly zone in Syria that would have saved
thousands of lives heretofore. The Caesar Syria Civilian
Protection Act became law in December. I agree with Senator
Menendez. We need to implement that. I want to ask both of you,
Mr. Al Saleh and Mr. Alshogre, what can we do to help hold
these people accountable? Assad. Russia. UAE is now recognizing
them. These are things the U.S. can influence on. We are not
walking away. None of us want to walk away from Syria and our
responsibility in that part of the world.
The U.N. in 2016 created--the General Assembly--the
International Impartial and Independent Mechanism. Tell us your
personal opinions about what we need to do now to help make
this end and help hold these people accountable. Omar?
Mr. Alshogre. Thank you, Senator. I think before we think
about holding al-Assad or Russia accountable, we have to stop
them because it is like still going on in Syria. People are
dying every day, and like, when I get in contact with any
person who has been newly released, he tells me, like, torture
is, like, unlimited. Starvation is horrible. So we have to stop
them, and if not, the U.S., the leader of the free world speak
up for these people or, like, take an action by----
I know the U.S. maybe does not have a great relation with
Turkey. Europe does not have it. But if we are going to support
Turkey, we support Turkey for the Syrian people, not for Turkey
itself. And right now, it feels like the only scenario the U.S.
can do because there is no intention to sending the troops, and
I understand that. Maybe it is not a good idea at all, but the
U.S. has their own allies in Syria. They can support them. You
have the NATO allies. You can support them and provide them
internal assistance and stopping the killing.
And Turkey, like a lot of Syrians talking about how much
they like what Turkey is doing, even if Turkey is, like, coming
inside their country, but it is the only way to survive, the
only way to be protected. These people want to be protected in
any way on earth. It does not matter who protect us, just
protect us. Israel, the U.S., just protect us. Holding al-Assad
accountable, there is no way as the commander of the Syrian
war. I even have a picture of my father being killed by the
soldiers who made that. I have my brothers' pictures.
And to just make it clear, my father looks like any other
human being on earth. He is normal dad. I loved him. He loved
me and my brothers as well. So there is evidence of them being
killed, and now we have five legal cases, prosecutions against
the war crimes in Syria, and it is in Germany, and Spain, and
France, and Norway, and Sweden. We have to support these cases,
and we have to start one here in the United States because,
like, the United States has more power than Europe in doing any
prosecutions. And Germany just 2 days ago started their
prosecutions, brought two guys who have been arrested just to
court. They are going to start now.
And the U.S. is still kind of not doing enough when it
comes to prosecutions. I do not think Germany has more ability
to do that than the U.S., but the U.S. is waiting for
something. I do not know what. I am not an expert. I do not
know what is going on, but still, the U.S. can do more than
what it is doing right now. And really bad hand.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Alshogre. I do not know how to say. Yeah, I mean, oh,
one--I know I have 17 seconds. I will try to make it possible.
But when I was in Branch 215, one of the branches almost 2
years there, the guards used every day to come and in a period
of time, to come every day and ask for somebody who speaks
English. They take this person to the sixth floor, translate
some people who only speak English, and there were prisoners
used to translate. I was working in the isolation room, that
room, dead bodies. If you look straight behind you, this girl,
there is a paper and number in his hand. I was writing those
numbers. I was, like, tasked from the guard to write these
numbers before Caesar took the pictures.
They were using people to go up to translate. This person
who translated only once, and killed, goes to the isolation
room. I saw this person, like, go into the sixth room and die,
and second person die. Then I understood there are
international prisoners, which include Americans, and so
Syria's translator is dying for the Americans. Americans should
do something to protect these people there.
And there are Americans in Syria's prisons. If somebody
does not care about what is going on for Syrians, there are
Americans. And Layla Schweikani just died, and we do not know
what happened to Kamalmaz, an American citizen. The U.S. has to
do anything in their power--I started to speak like an
American, but, like, I feel it is amazing we can host this
testimony, but it is time for action, too. Thank you.
The Chairman. Go ahead.
Mr. Al Saleh. [Interpreted.] Since the Russians intervened
in 2015, they have used the veto 24 times in the Security
Council. The first thing that the United States and the
international community needs to do is to take all of the
conversations for the future of Syria and for saving the Syrian
people out of the Security Council because in the Security
Council, everything gets vetoed by the Russians. Even the issue
of delivering assistance to people who are in desperate need
across the borders has been vetoed last month by the Russian
government.
Russia vetoes anything that just merely condemns the war
crimes that are being committed by the Assad regime or by
Russia, and this was seen in 2017. The Russians used seven
vetoes just stop the work of the Joint Investigative Mechanism,
which confirmed the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime
in Syria. And in 90 days, there will be another vote at the
Security Council just for the delivery of assistance, for the
delivery of a bite of food to eat, assistance which is being
delivered not by Russia. It is assistance that is being
delivered because of the United States and Europe's support to
the U.N. But this assistance will be debated in the Security
Council and can be compromised by the Russian veto.
And allow me to say that if Russia uses the veto and stops
the delivery of humanitarian assistance across the border, then
all of the U.S. funding to the U.N. will be in direct support
of the criminal Assad regime and the Iranian militias.
Senator Perdue. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Perdue. Senator Shaheen.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you. Thank you both very much for
being here. I cannot add much to the eloquence of Senator
Menendez in talking about the fact that anything we say pales
by comparison to what the two of you have experienced and seen.
But I do want to ask some questions because I think it helps me
be able to better witness to people who we want to respond to
this crisis.
So this is probably for you, Mr. Al Saleh. Critics of the
Turkish-Russian ceasefire in Idlib argue that the agreement
will solidify the territorial gains that have been made by
Assad, and yet they do nothing to address the humanitarian
crisis or to protect the millions of refugees. So can you talk
about what you believe will happen if--first of all, will that
ceasefire hold? And second, what will happen to the Syrians who
are currently in Idlib if Assad and the Russians and Iranians
are successful?
Mr. Al Saleh. [Interpreted.] We have been warning of the
humanitarian crisis which will result in Idlib back since 2015
before the Sochi Agreement, and we know that Russia never
abides by any ceasefire that they sign in Syria. This ceasefire
will end the same that every other ceasefire has ended in
Syria. The ceasefires are simply a tool that is used by the
Russians and the regime in order to reorganize the situation on
the ground, change the deployment of forces, and to be able to,
at a later date, resume the unimpeded bombardment of civilians.
Turkey took a very bold step in intervening to stop the
assault on civilians in Idlib, but it is unable to enforce a
civilian protection mechanism on its own. That is the words of
the Turkish government, and that is not my analysis. Turkey has
asked the international community, the United States, and NATO
for more support to support its efforts in Northwest Syria, and
it is something that we have been asking for, for many years:
for a no-fly zone and for civilian protection.
In just 60 days, 1 million people were forced out of their
homes and displaced by the latest offensive, and there are
still 200,000 who are without any shelter. So if that is the
scale of the crisis that we have seen so far, it is impossible
for us to even imagine what would happen if, as you said, the
Assad regime was successful in retaking all of Idlib. The
crisis would be of an unimaginable scale. And for that reason,
before we talk about sending more humanitarian assistance to
those who have been displaced most recently, we need to stop
the ongoing offensive and return the Assad regime forces back
to the lines where they were in 2018 so that those civilians
who have been displaced can return to their homes.
And after that, we need to go back to the U.N. and force
the U.N. to apply the correct interpretation of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 2254, which has been misinterpreted because
of the pressure from the Russian government. The Constitutional
Committee, which has come out of the 2254 resolution, is not a
solution for the crisis in Syria. The Syrian people never went
to the streets or called for a new constitution. The problem in
Syria is not with the constitution. It is with who is
implementing the constitution.
The solution for Syria is a stop to all of the hostilities,
accountability for all those who have committed war crimes, and
a transitional governing body which can allow the Syrians who
have been displaced from their homes to be able to return to
their homes safely. So we don't want to see Bashar al-Assad in
the next year receiving a Nobel Peace prize because after all
that he has committed, he simply signs a peace agreement with
the opposition.
Senator Shaheen. I cannot imagine anyone in the civilized
world who would believe that Assad should be the recipient of
any kind of prize for any peace because all he has done is
commit crimes against his own people, and he should be held
accountable for that.
Mr. Al Saleh. [Interpreted.] Thank you.
Senator Shaheen. And I believe this committee will do
everything we can to try and support that. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Shaheen. Thank you to our
witnesses, a sincere thank you. Brave people giving us a lot to
think about. Your testimony here today is going to become very
public in the world. Thank you for your bravery, and thank you
for coming here today.
For the members of the committee, the record will remain
open until the close of business on Friday. With that, the
committee is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:03 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
[all]