Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hill urges ‘push back’ on Assad
Congress bipartisan in supporting Syrian people, he says
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., emphasized on Tuesday the importance of supporting the Syrian people as he and others spoke about the war that has killed thousands and displaced millions.
Hill, a Little Rock Republican, spoke at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum during an event regarding the conflict. Hill has been vocal in opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad and military actions that transformed civilian protests into a bloody war. More than 300,000 people have died in the conflict, with 13 million Syrians displaced or living as refugees.
“We’ve got to push back consistently against the Assad regime,” Hill said Tuesday.
“I want you to know that the House of Representatives, on a bipartisan basis, stands with the people of Syria who want their country back. They want to go home, and to the beauty that once was Syria and not the mayhem it has become over the past decade.”
The event came weeks after a massive earthquake in southeast Turkey and northern Syria. At least 50,000 people, including 6,000 people in Syria, died, with thousands of others left homeless.
“People are just exhausted,” said Celine Kassem, media coordinator with the American-based nonprofit Syrian Emergency Task Force.
“They have reached a point of so much mental and physical trauma that this one earthquake was the last thing they had not experienced until today.”
Kassem, who was a 10-yearold living in Syria when the conflict began, said the war has evolved into multiple crises with Assad “starving” the Syrian people. She recalled traveling to Turkey and northwest Syria shortly after last month’s earthquake and the despondence and betrayal present throughout communities.
“They just kept asking, why has the world, once again, after this natural disaster, forgotten about us?” she said. “After an earthquake, there’s a time frame for people to come in and help, and we needed those resources to save these lives.”
Northwest Syria, according to Kassem, is an area whose population has increased because of displacement tied to the conflict. Journalists joined Kassem on her trip, in which she served as an interpreter for reporters.
“I was translating for the journalists and, to some degree, [the earthquake victims] just kept talking and talking,” she said. “They genuinely just wanted someone to listen and recognize their pain after all of these years.”
Mayson Almisri, the advocacy and media officer with the Syria Civil Defence, a humanitarian group of volunteers also known as the White Helmets, compared northwest Syria to a “punishment region.” She said organizations faced challenges in aiding people living in the area even before the earthquake.
“What’s happening in Syria is not a civil war. It’s not a war between different proxies or anything else,” she said through an interpreter.
“It’s a revolution of people that demanded their dignity and freedom. It is the Syrian people versus a horrific dictator and his regime. It’s a fight between evil and goodness, between justice and injustice.”
A reoccurring topic from the speakers was the fear of governments tolerating Assad’s regime as the military conflict continues. Officials with Arab nations met with Assad late last month with some consideration of welcoming Syria back into the regional Arab League association; Syria’s association was suspended in November 2011 because of the war.
Iran and Russia have backed Assad and his government during the war, with both countries providing Syria with military support.
“Under no circumstances — under no circumstances — should the United States wink or nod or even remotely entertain a meeting with another government that seeks to normalize diplomatic relations with Syria,” Hill said.
“That’s a catastrophic mistake, and not one that will have any support on Capitol Hill.”
Hill has led legislative efforts targeting the Assad regime during his tenure in Congress. The congressman helped introduce legislation last Congress requiring the federal government to develop a plan to stop narcotics production linked to Assad. The bill passed last December as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.