[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 154 (Monday, September 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6183-S6184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 SYRIA

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 
Hearing on Russia's role in Syria and the broader Middle East that had 
been scheduled for last week has been postponed; therefore, I rise 
today to raise awareness on the danger and urgency of the moment, given 
the impending humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib, Syria, and the refusal 
of the Trump administration to impose meaningful costs on Russia for 
protecting Bashar al-Assad and his regime.
  On Syria, Congress again finds itself in a situation where we often 
hear more from the press than we do directly from the administration. 
Last week many of us read with interest in the Washington Post a report 
that President Trump agreed to a new strategy for Syria that 
indefinitely extends the U.S. military presence and supports a major 
diplomatic push to end the conflict. This same article also indicated 
that the administration views the military campaign against ISIS as 
nearly complete and that U.S. goals have now shifted to Iran's presence 
in Syria given the doubts that Russia is willing and capable of 
ejecting Iran from Syria.
  Congress and the American people deserve to hear directly from the 
Trump administration whether in fact this is our new strategy. When 
this hearing is rescheduled, I expect the administration to explain in 
detail its proposed diplomatic engagement and the plan for U.S. forces 
in Syria after ISIS is defeated. I also want to know what specific 
tools the administration proposes to use to ensure the removal of Iran 
from Syria; compel the Assad regime to cease and Russia to cease 
support for the bombing, torture, and gassing of Syrian civilians; and 
hold Assad's brutal regime to account for its crimes against the Syrian 
people, as well as consequences for the Kremlin's support of this 
brutal regime.
  In my view, Russia is fully culpable for perpetuating the war in 
Syria and rendering that country persistently unstable, a magnet for 
violent extremists and a direct threat to Israel.
  Now more than ever, we must shine a light on Russia's role in 
perpetuating the conflict in Syria, as well as Russia's role in the 
region. And while we still await details on the disastrous and 
embarrassing Helsinki summit between Presidents Trump and Putin, I am 
deeply concerned that for the Syrian people Helsinki made a bad 
situation worse.
  I fear that President Trump did not raise Russia's war crimes in 
Syria, such as Russian aircraft dropping Russian bombs in densely 
populated areas of Syria. I doubt that President Trump called Putin out 
for violating the deescalation agreement in southern Syria, agreed to 
last year by the United States, Russia, and Jordan. I am skeptical that 
President Trump pressed Putin to commit to delivering Assad to 
participate in good faith at the UN-led process for a negotiated 
settlement along the lines of Security Council Resolution 2254. I doubt 
that President Trump insisted that Russia break its sinister alliance 
with Tehran that has enabled the survival of Assad in Syria and 
threatened the security of Israel. And I see no indication that the 
administration is using any of the tools Congress has given it--
including mandatory sanctions provisions in the Countering American 
Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, CAATSA--to change the status 
quo in Syria or prevent the looming assault on Idlib province, where 
Russia is already engaged in a bombing campaign alongside its client 
Assad.
  It seems to me that the administration is taking a backseat--or maybe 
has gotten out of the car entirely--while the Assad-Russia-Iran 
alliance is left unchallenged to starve, torture, and bomb the Syrian 
people into submission.
  While the humanitarian dimensions of this tragedy are reason enough 
for the administration to take a different approach, there are 
significant strategic consequences for allowing or enabling an Assad-
Russia-Iran partnership to solidify as a salient feature of the 
landscape of the Middle East. But instead of U.S. leadership shaping 
the region, we have instead Vladimir Putin--the man who has long 
ensured Bashar al-Assad's survival--flying around the Middle East 
completing deals for base access and weapons sales. And rather than 
utilize the threat of CAATSA sanctions to compel U.S. partners in the 
Arab world to cease significant purchases from the Russian defense and 
intelligence sectors, the administration instead sought a national 
security waiver for this provision of the law.
  While the United States has backed away from its key leadership role 
in addressing the region's conflicts, governments in the Middle East 
rolled out the red carpet for Putin and flocked to Russia during the 
World Cup to sit by his side and sign agreements for increased 
cooperation.
  Putin can only take away one message from this posture by the Trump 
administration: Russian activities and influence in the Middle East 
will not be challenged in any meaningful way by the United States.

[[Page S6184]]

  With so many vital U.S. national security interests at stake in the 
region--including the safety and effectiveness of our troops fighting 
ISIS--this leadership vacuum risks outcomes that serve only Russia's 
interests, not our own.
  While President Trump may believe that Russian hegemony in the Middle 
East and Russian partnership with Iran is not a cause for concern, I am 
deeply alarmed that we are on the road to a series of outcomes in Syria 
that will be as catastrophic in human terms as they will be 
strategically ruinous for U.S. interests and values for years to come.

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