Three Republican senators visited northwest Syria last Sunday for a quick, unannounced visit, according to the Associated Press. This was the first trip by US politicians to that nation in six years.
Reps. French Hill, Ben Cline, and Scott Fitzgerald visited the area for an hour and asked the Biden administration to continue to apply pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Rep. Hill, who spoke to the Associated Press, stated that this was just the most recent of several trips he has made to the area this summer to urge the US and its allies to keep up their pressure for a political solution to the civil war in Syria. He claimed that he is representing the interests of Syrians, seeking a representative government through his message.
At least 300,000 civilians have died in the violence since it started more than ten years ago, and half the nation’s population has been affected.
Early on Sunday morning, the Republican legislators crossed into northern Aleppo after traveling from Turkey. Syrian orphans from Wisdom House welcomed the members of Congress. The US-based opposition group established this school, the Syrian Emergency Task Force, which organized the politicians’ trip.
Rep. Hill’s district in Arkansas has received the majority of the donations made to Wisdom House.
The MPs met with opposition figures and humanitarian leaders like White Helmets commander Raed Saleh during the roughly one-hour visit.
Due to safety purposes, no announcement to the public was made before the visit on Sunday.
The last time a US politician was spotted there was in 2017 when the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ) met with opposition fighters and went to see US troops stationed in northeast Syria’s Kurdish territory.
Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) visited the Syrian capital of Damascus that same year, where she talked with President Assad in a move that drew strong criticism back home.
Rep. Hill blasted the Biden administration for not pressuring Assad to enact political reforms. He explained to the Associated Press that Syria requires “American leadership,” just as the United States does.
