This is the committees second hearing of congress on the syrian conflict but its been raised during many of our meetings. To date, more than 400,000 people have been killed in the syrian conflict, more than 12 Million People, roughly half of all syrians, are displaced and the assad regime bears overwhelming responsibility for this destruction and extremism it has spawned. However, none of this would have been possible without the support of iran and russia, both of which intervened on assads behalf to extend influence in a region and counter the u. S. And its partners. With the support of the u. S. And Coalition Partners the Syrian Democratic forces succeeded in sweeping isis out of raqqah in october. Of course, despite losing much of its territory in syria and iraq, isis remains a major threat. And theres also the ongoing danger posed by al qaeda, syria, and affiliates which maintain significant influence in oppositioncontrolled areas. So its worth highlighting two recent developments. First, the u. S. , russia, and jordan signed a memorandum of principles on november 8 maintaining the administrative arrangements in oppositionheld areas in southwest syria. Yet iran and its proxies have deepened their foothold in southern syria, potentially exacerbating the conflict and risking further instability by threatening our ally, israel. Second, for the past two weeks the assad regime has pummelled idlib and a damascus suburb which are the socalled deescalation zones. These attacks have killed dozens of civilians and displaced tens of thousands so far. I hope ambassador satterfield will provide details of what the u. S. Is doing to counter irans activities in southern syria and assess the current prospects for resolving the Syrian Civil War diplomatically. With that, ill ask our distinguished Ranking Member if he wishes to make any opening comments. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you for calling this hearing on the u. S. Strategy in syria after isis. We couldnt have a more distinguished witness before us in mr. Satterfield, its wonderful to have you here and we look forward to our discussion today. There are many issues involving syria in which this committee has primary responsibility on oversight. The use of force, the fact that were using a 2001 aumf and what happens many of us question whether that really applies to isis but what happens after isis is defeated . Where is the authorization to maintain u. S. Troops in syria . We see a rapid increase in the number of u. S. Troops, i believe the number now is close to 2000, at least its been reported about that. What is the role for u. S. Development assistance working with other countries. We know theres no other militaryonly solution here. How will american diplomacy play out . What is russias role here in the future. Will it be effective in preventing mr. Assad from being held accountable for his war crimes . Where is our concern about iran and developing a land bridge between tehran and beirut which certainly affects israels security. On each of these issues, the administration appears to view syria through a military lens, make decisions on troop levels and military mission s in a policy vacuum. For example, at a Pentagon Press briefing last year, the American Public was informed that the United States will sustain a conditionsbased military presence in syria after the defeat of isis. However, the administration has provided no information to congress or the American People about the conditions under which u. S. Forces will leave syria. Are those conditions political . Military . I hope to gain insight into this issue during the hearing today because our young men and women in uniform and their families deserve to be fully informed as to what theyre fighting for and when the fight will be over. I am deeply disappointed and i share the chairmans concern that the department of defense declined this committees invitation to testify. This committee has jurisdiction over the authorization for the use of military force and has already spent significant time debating whether the 2001 aumf covers successors entities like isis given that the authorization drafted almost two decades ago was intended to provide authority to target al qaeda in afghanistan. Now the administration is arguing that even after isis is defeated our forces will still remain in syria to make sure that isis cannot return, at the same time, u. S. Forces have significantly increased without any public explanation. Considered together, the notion that the u. S. Forces must stay in syria to mitigate against isis return while simultaneously ramping up u. S. Forces seems like the prelude to another forever war with no congressional authorization. If we learned anything from the experiences in the last decade, its that the military fight is not even half the battle. Longterm sustainable ends of conflicts demand political agreements, international donors, stabilization activities, reconciliation initiatives, development expertise, accountability of local leadership and, above all, patience, constant diplomatic and political engagement. There is no sustainable solution in syria, even after isis is defeated, without a longterm political solution. Now the people of syria, so many of whom risked their lives to challenge the assad regime are forced to look to other places for help rather than washington and the geneva. This is another instance where the Trump Administration is willing to cede ground to russia. I hope its not lost on those committed to a stable, prosperous middle east. Working through moscow, we only bring further instability more aligned to iranian influence, increased human suffering and the same old topdown corruption. Meanwhile, russia is enabling iran and irans militia to make themselves at home in syria setting the stage to exploit lucrative contracts. Russias president Vladimir Putin the man who assured Bashar Al Assads survival is flying around the middle east with completing deals for base access and weapons deals. With the United States absent from the scene, the governments across the region are rolling out the red carpet for mr. Putin. This is not a situation that benefits the United States or the people of the region who want to look to the west but are compelled to look east. I hope mr. Todaychairman that wl get a better understanding of a winnable strategy in syria. Thank you. Its rare that i would make comments after yours, i will say that theres a lot of progress made and i think well be in a place to have a markup and were doing it in a way to engender support on both sides of the aisle. As it relates to whats happened in syria, to me, after watching our people in action, i think what we saw here was a seamless handoff between one administration to another and obviously the generals were given more flexibility with the new administration but what i saw was a seamless handoff in doing away with the caliphate. So to me thus far as it relates to isis this is something that has been successful. Now were left with a country that we have to figure out how to deal with and i want to thank the ambassador for being with us today. Hes ambassador david satterfield, one of our most distinguished diplomats. He most recently served as director general of the Multinational Force and observers in the Sinai Peninsula and previously served as u. S. Ambassador lebanon. We thank you so much for being here. Look forward to your testimony and vigorous questions. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member cardin and members of the committee. Appreciate the opportunity to testify today. We have made significant progress since 2014 when isis first emerged swept across iraq and syria, inflicted suffering on thousands of civilians in the region with impact far beyond. However, despite the advances made, our job is not yet done. We remain focused on the enduring defeat of isis and other terrorist organizations, countering iranian influence and malign behaviors, presenting the use of wednesday, ensuring the safety of syrias neighbors and ultimately resolving the syrian conflict and humanitarian crisis through the deescalation of violence and a political resolution, and there must be a political transformation and resolution that is in accordance with u. N. Security Council Resolution 2254. As of today, coalitionbacked efforts have liberated over 98 of the territory previously controlled by isis. With over 7. 5 Million People now free from isis domination in iraq and in syria. While russia may deem and announce that the fight in syria is over, the u. S. And Coalition Partners do not regard this as a finished effort. The u. S. Is committed to the total and enduring defeat of isis, al qaeda, other terrorist groups in syria and the region ensuring that they cannot regenerate and return. Thanks to the generosity of the congress and the American People, the u. S. Has provided nearly 7. 5 billion in humanitarian assistance since the start of the syrian crisis, about 1. 5 billion over the last ye year. This critical aid assists nearly four million syrians in need every month that country. In Eastern Syria with support from our colleagues in the department of defense, the state department and usaid lead recovery effort designed to help consul date our military gains, provide life saving assistance to conflictafflicted civilians and stabilize the liberated are areas. As this committee well knows, unlike in iraq, we do not have a trusted government partner to work with. We are not working with and we will not work with the assad regime unt regime. Until there is a credible political process and by credible we mean chosen by the Syrian People without assad at its helm at the end of the process the u. S. And our allies will not support large scale efforts to reconstruct syria. On july 9, over six months ago, the u. S. , jordan, and russia, made an arrangement, memorandum of principles to reduce violence in southwest syria. On november 8, the u. S. , russia and jordan signed a formal memorandum codifying principles that spritrengthened this earli effort. Then shrines the commitment of the u. S. , russia, and jordan that nonsyrian foreign fighters, including iranian and iranian proxy forces, hezbollah, Must Withdraw from areas within the ceasefire lines delineated by this agreement. On november 11, President Trump, president putin issued a joint statement on syria in da nang, vietnam. They endorsed the memorandum of principles and reaffirmed the u. S. And russian commitment to a pluralistic and free syria. They also reaffirmed their commitment to syrias sovereignty, unity, independence, territorial integrity and nonsectarian character and they urged all syrian parties to participate genuinely, actively in the geneva political process. On november 29, russia had to coerce the Syrian Regime to attend meetings in geneva. The opposition, however, came prepared and ready to discuss matters. All of these efforts are fully in line with implementation of u. N. Security Council Resolution 2254 which calls for a new syrian constitution and for parliamentary and president ial elections under u. N. Supervisions in which all syrians including those displaced outside syrian borders can participate. A stable syria absolutely requires the departure of president assad and his regime they have inflicted suffering and countless death on people, including the use of chemical weapons. This regime is a magneter the er the magnet for terror incapable of leading syria. Our allies have come to russia with a path towards the syrian political transition, towards a political solution, on many occasions and we call on russia again today to pressure the regime to work seriously towards a political resolution to this conflict. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i welcome your questions. Thank you for being here. I was going to typically defer to senator cardin first because of the last portion of your stateme statement. We are now not demanding that assad leave. Instead, as i understand it, we were embracing the u. N. Resolution as putin has recently done, is that correct . Thats correct, mr. Chairman. And that would mean there would be an election that would take place . There would be a constitutional reform and revision process and then there would be an electoral process. That electoral process would be fully under u. N. Monitoring and supervision. Is it true that its my sense that people like you and others believe that if that process occurs as has been laid out and as supported right now by russia you believe that the way assad would go is through a democratic election where he would lose . Mr. Chairman, we cannot conceive of a circumstance which genuinely fair electoral process overseen by the u. N. With participation of the syrian displaced community could lead to a result in which assad remained at the hem, yes, slm. Is there any chance there would be in syria a real election that people had the opportunity to vote and it wasnt corrupt . This is that goal, exactly what russia and the International Community are formally committed to see achieve. The task to make it real is the challenge before us all. Thank you so much. Senator cardin . Thank you, mr. Chairman, ambassador, thank you. Just about everything you said i agree with and i like the way you emphasized the importance of mr. Assad leaving but let me express some skepticism with russias involvement and try to understand how we are prepared to deal with what is likely to come about and that is russias goals of not having a free syria. They want to have a footprint in syria. Theyre comfortable with mr. Assad. They certainly are looks like they are setting him up to be immune from being held accountable for his war crimes. How do we i agree with senator corkers inference. Thats first tool. Second tool is money. Syria needs reconstruction. The bill varies in estimate, but lets say between 200 billion and 300 billion plus to reconstruct. The International Community has committed itself not to provide that reconstruction assistance until those goals constitutional reform, u. N. Supervised elections are realized. Thats a powerful incentive because our assessment is russia, iran. Syrian regime dont have those funds, arent going to be able to contribute, but they want a certain stability and they want authentication and thats what were withholding until we see the progress made. The second and final comment id make is translating everything we do, u. S. And the International Community, through the u. N. Through the legitimacy of the Security Council and resolution 2254. This is the counterweight to sochi, to Russian Initiative which is would control and contain a track on their own. It wont have ledge m legitimat otherwise. Mr. Assad must be held accountable for his activities and that cannot be compromised in a final political settlement. Are you still committed to that goal . We are, senator. Thank you. Let me mention another area that has been a major concern and thats irans footprint in syria. It seems pretty likely that russia would be sympathetic to iran having a footprint in syria moving forward. Theres great concern among both jordan and israel with their security interests and irans presence in syria. What type of game plan do we have to make sure that we minimize that risk fact or and protect our traditional security arrangements with both israel and jordan . Senator, the presence, the activities of iran in and through syria by through syria a mean a greater qualitative enablement of the hezbollah threat in lebanon is the primary strategic challenge that we and our partners face in and through syria and i would add iraq as well. We would hope russia would recognize that russias longterm Strategic InterestsRisk Assessment risk calculus, should not weigh iran as a positive factor, that iran poses a challenge and a threat to russian interests as well. Do you think we can convince russia of that . I agree with you, i just dont think i think its just the reverse with mr. Putin. I think he likes having a proxy of iran in syria. Senator, i think the focus has been right now from the Russian Point of view on stabilization in syria, securitying the success victory of the regime, putting an end to the chaos and violence there which the russians see as threatening their interest. The question is at what price over the long term. And an enhancement in a permanent sense of irans role cannot be any regional or transregional interest. But you asked what were doing about this challenge. First step was the defeat of isis. As long as isis remained a potent fighting force in syria the bandwidth, the space to deal with these broader challenges, including iran and assad and the regime simply wasnt there. That bandwidth is being freed up now. With the u. N. Process, with International Support for a credible electoral and constitutional reform process we see political transition in syria as a potentially achievable goal. We dont underestimate the challenges ahead. This is going to be hard, very hard to do. Assad will cling to power at almost every cost possible. But with respect to iran, we will treat iran in syria and irans enablement of hezbollah a a separate strategic issue. How do you do it . You do it in all places it manifests its which is not just syria but iraq, yemen, the gulf, other areas where irans malign behaviors affect our and our allies national interests. Difficult challenge but not impossible and it is one we are seized with right now. But having a politically transformed syria will in and of itself be a mitigating and minimizing factor on irans influence and the opposite is also true. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, before turning to senator youn