The US is not satisfied with the progress Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara has made and considers many of his actions to be “steps backward”, a senior Republican politician said on Tuesday.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill, House foreign affairs committee chairman Brian Mast heard from experts and other legislators about the situation in Syria, where sectarian clashes have broken out across the country and Mr Al Shara's troops have fought with Kurdish forces once backed by Washington.
“We need President Al Shara to do better,” said Mr Mast. “These are not easy things to deal with but recent actions against Druze Kurds and Alawites are all steps in the wrong direction. They do not create confidence for the United States.”
He said he had not expected the transition from the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024, to be without incident, but “we've already seen too many incidents”, of sectarian violence and attacks against minorities.
Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the panel, said the US needs to see Mr Al Shara commit to reining in abuses from units in the Syrian military that have been attacking Kurdish forces.
“Once again, the Kurdish people are facing violence at the hands of the Damascus-based security forces,” Mr Meeks said.
The new government in Syria is led by prominent figures from Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a former splinter group of Al Qaeda.
The US has now lifted all sanctions against Syria but many sceptics remain, including Mr Mast. They want sanctions to be reintroduced if the Shara government fails to make progress.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal last month introduced legislation to impose sanctions on any group or government engaged in hostilities against the Kurds.
Mr Mast also said the transfer of ISIS prisoners from Syria to Iraq was a “deep concern”.
“The fact is, Syria is nowhere close to where they need to be today. The United States is not satisfied with the progress that [Mr Al Shara] has made yet, and views many of his actions as steps backward,” he said.
