Preventing Destabilization of Iraq and Syria Act of 2017

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Preventing Destabilization of Iraq and Syria Act of 2017”.

Table of contents— The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

More than 14,000,000 Syrians have become refugees or internally displaced persons over the last five years.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that since 2012, more than 60,000 Syrians, including children, have died in Syrian prisons.

In July 2014, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives heard testimony from a former Syrian military photographer, alias “Caesar”, who fled Syria and smuggled out thousands of photos of tortured bodies. In testimony, Caesar said, “I have seen horrendous pictures of bodies of people who had tremendous amounts of torture, deep wounds and burns and strangulation.”.

The regime of Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly blocked civilian access to or diverted humanitarian assistance, including medical supplies, to besieged and hard-to-reach areas, in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The need for humanitarian assistance remains significant. According to the United Nations, in 2016 only 46 percent of the overall humanitarian appeal for Syria was met, leaving significant gaps in the response.

The course of the Syrian transition and its future leadership may depend on what the United States and its partners do now to save Syrian lives, alleviate suffering, and help Syrians determine their own future.