On the recordMay 17, 2017
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017. Since 2011, the Assad regime's forces have killed an estimated 500,000 people, mostly civilians, by unconscionably targeting and attacking major population centers. According to Human Rights Watch, last month, the Syrian regime used a nerve agent in northwest Syria that killed at least 92 people, including 30 children. Even more heartbreaking is the fact that this was not the first chemical weapons attack by the Syrian Government against its own people. To the contrary, reports suggest that the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons has become ``widespread and systematic,'' and it has dropped bombs with nerve agents on at least four other occasions since December 12. Just yesterday, our own State Department revealed that the Syrian regime is actively using a large crematorium to dispose of the remains of thousands of Syrian men, women, and children, whom they continue to slaughter. Not only has the Syrian Government become a source of such crimes against humanity, but Syria has also indisputably become a hotbed for terrorist activity, propped up by Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. Both ISIS and al-Qaida are operating near the Syria-Israel border, putting the Jewish State of Israel and our regional security in grave danger. As a mother and a Jew, I cannot turn my cheek to this unadulterated evil.…





