Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves Shaheen Syria Study Group

**Shaheen shepherds critical Syria Study Group proposal through Senate Committee on Foreign Relations** 

(Washington, DC) – The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) proposal to establish a Syria Study Group to recommend new strategies to address the Syrian conflict. Her proposal was included in the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017, and establishes a bipartisan panel to complete a comprehensive strategic review of American policy in Syria.

“Syria has been immersed in conflict for half a decade,” said Shaheen. “Even as American troops and partners move forward on efforts to clear ISIS from Syria, they risk and sometimes, face direct confrontation with Bashar al-Assad’s forces backed by Iran and Russia. An absence of strategy places our troops in harm's way and risks abdicating the independence of our military to other players in Syria. This is why we need a thorough and independent top to bottom review of our policy in Syria, and must develop a strategy to end the violence.”

In February, Senator Shaheen sent a letter to the leadership of the Senate State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee urging the establishment of a Syria Study Group. In July, alongside Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE), Senator Shaheen sent a similar letter to the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee to reiterate the need for a study group.

Senator Shaheen serves on the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Armed Services. Her amendment can be read in full here in SECTION 10.