Overview

It is a tragedy that, unfortunately, has become all too familiar. By now we have seen the images and heard the unimaginable stories of despair, horror, and suffering. More than 150,000 people have been killed as a result of Assad's war to stay in power. Nearly 3 million people have fled from Syria into neighboring countries, such as Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, creating instability within those countries as they struggle to cope with the strains that this massive influx of refugees has placed on their security and stability; there are 6.5 million internally displaced persons, IDPs, in Syria, roughly 10 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and the vast majority of those hit hardest by this crisis are the women and children. The administration's approach to resolving the Syrian conflict leaves much to be desired by any metric. Unless the administration addresses the underlying root causes for the humanitarian disaster, this committee is likely to be here again next year and in the years to come asking the very same heart-wrenching questions.