Syria

Since 2011, Syria has been mired in a relentless civil war between President Bashir Assad’s regime and rebel fighting forces. Today, those rebel forces have fractured into civilians fighting for greater democracy and human rights and Islamic extremists. This is a not a situation I take lightly. As Iran and Russia continue to arm the Assad regime with weapons and missiles, the minority Christian population and other innocent civilians continue to be decimated. Syria cannot continue to be the world-wide battlefield which allows our adversaries to be strengthened and our regional security to be threatened.

To date, over 465,000 Syrians have been killed or are missing, 6.6 million have been internally displaced, and another 5.2 million are now refugees in neighboring states. My thoughts and prayers are with them.