Syria Stabilization Act of 2013

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Syria Stabilization Act of 2013”.

Since mass peaceful demonstrations started in Syria on March 15, 2011, the Government of Syria, led by President Bashar al-Assad, has responded by committing human rights abuses and launching a violent crackdown that has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives and degenerated into a civil war.

The civil war has caused a humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations, there are more than 1,400,000 Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq and more than 2,600,000 Syrians displaced within the country. More than three-quarters of refugees and internally displaced persons are women and children.

The refugee crisis threatens the stability of the Middle East, putting immense burdens on Syria’s neighbors, most notably Lebanon and Jordan, but also Turkey and Iraq.

The civil war has increased the danger that the Assad regime could lose control of its chemical weapons stockpile or choose to use chemical weapons against civilians or armed opposition fighters in Syria.

On April 25, 2013, the White House issued a letter to Congress stating that “our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent Sarin”.

The security vacuum in Syria has created a safe haven for both Shia and Sunni extremists, who could in the future threaten the security of the United States and its partners.

Instability in Syria has threatened Israel’s security, particularly on the shared border along the Golan Heights.

A change in government could be a significant blow to Iran and Hezbollah, which would lose a strong ally and who have been aggressively providing military assistance to President Assad.

The commitments made by the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at the international meeting in Istanbul on April 20 and 21, 2013, constitute an important endorsement of shared principles and objectives that should guide United States Government cooperation with the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and affiliated forces. These principles include a commitment to the territorial integrity of Syria, a rejection of sectarianism and extremism, and pledges to secure chemical weapons and support nonproliferation efforts.

to support transition from the current regime in Syria to a just and democratic state that is inclusive and protects the rights of all Syrians regardless of religion, ethnicity, or gender;

to assist the people of Syria, especially internally displaced persons and refugees, in meeting basic needs including access to food, health care, shelter, and clean drinking water;

to provide political and economic support to those neighboring countries who are hosting refugees fleeing Syria and to international organizations that are providing assistance and coordinating humanitarian relief efforts;

to oppose the unlawful use of violence against civilians by all parties to the conflict in Syria;

to use a broad array of pressure instruments to expedite a negotiated solution to the conflict in Syria, including the removal from power of the government of Bashar al-Assad;

to recognize the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (in this Act referred to as the “Syrian Opposition Coalition” or “SOC”) as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people;

to engage with the SOC and a diverse and inclusive array of opposition groups that are representative of the Syrian people, as well as the broader international community, to facilitate and plan for an orderly transition to a more stable democratic political order, the elements of which should include—

to promote the territorial integrity of Syria and the unity and continuity of the Syrian state by—

to provide foreign assistance, defense articles, defense services, and training to members of the Syrian Supreme Military Council, units of the Free Syrian Army, and other Syrian entities opposed to the government of Bashar al-Assad that have been properly vetted and share common values and interests with the United States;

to closely coordinate with key partners, including Turkey, Jordan, Israel, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the European Union, to ensure that the international community is prepared for a military or diplomatic response, including the creation of no-fly zones or safe havens, the protection of civilians, and the securing of chemical or biological weapons, to mitigate or prevent humanitarian, security, and proliferation emergencies; and

to support efforts to catalogue and identify those individuals who commit or lead units or organizations which commit abuses of human rights or other violations of international law, and to ensure that they are held accountable for their actions.