During a House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) spoke about the US lifting sanctions on Syria.
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00:00Thank you. Mr. Secretary, in your opening remarks, you mentioned Syria and how sanctions relief was a necessary step to help Syria's interim authorities stave off imminent collapse of the country.
00:11Can you expand on how sanctions relief is being used to advance U.S. policy objectives and also discuss potentially what conditions have been placed on Syria's interim authorities for that sanctions relief, including but not limited to things like protection of religious minority groups and counterterrorism cooperation?
00:31Yes. Well, first of all, let me say that Syria is, in many cases, when it comes to stability, the most important country in that region. And the region will tell you this. If Syria is unstable, the region becomes unstable.
00:42So we have an opportunity now, hopefully, to see a government. We hope the formation of a government, then the only kind of government that can work in Syria, is one that respects and includes all the different groups.
00:53Which, by the way, that's one of the advantages of Syria. There is such a thing as a Syrian national identity. And you can build on it. It is identity that, until recently, included close cooperation with Alawis and Druze and Christians and Sunni and Kurds.
01:06It's been a society that's existed this way until Assad divided them against each other for his own purposes. A civil war broke out. ISIS erupted. Foreign fighters poured in.
01:16And all kinds of instability ensued. So what we have now is a transitional authority, led by some people that, frankly, have troubling previous histories.
01:24That said, they have said they have no interest in war with Israel. They have no interest in becoming a playground to export revolution.
01:33What they want is to build a country. That is what they are claiming. And that's what we're willing to help them do, if that's what they're serious about doing.
01:39So what sanctions relief, as has been proposed by the President, allows immediately, is for partner nations in the region to be able to provide them the aid they need to do things, like provide a government, provide municipal services, improve their telecommunication systems, all the sorts of things you need to build a nation state, and show the people of Syria there's a path forward towards progress.
02:00Our belief is failure to do that will quickly devolve into civil war. ISIS will grow in strength and power.
02:07Pro-Iranian groups that are being fomented will increase their activities to destabilize.
02:11And then you've got a big problem on your hands, because now you have Syria once again becoming a playground for foreign fighters, jihadists, terrorists, and the like, that threaten not just Israel, not just their neighbors, but ultimately the United States.
02:23I will say why it furthers national interest. Again, this is not going to be easy. No one should pretend this is going to be easy, because it's not.
02:29But if Syria could somehow be stabilized, now and for the foreseeable future, what it would mean for Lebanon, what it would mean for Jordan, what it would mean for Israel, and what it would mean for the broader stability of the region is extraordinary.
02:41It is a historic opportunity. We hope it comes to fruition. We're going to do everything we can to make it succeed. We hope that it does.
02:48But it does have to be conditioned on them continuing to live by the commitments I've just outlined that they've made verbally. Now we need to see it in action.
02:55Thank you, and I yield back.
02:57Sure.