3 members of Congress make a rare visit to opposition-held northwest Syria

Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., pictured on Jan. 5 on Capitol Hill, was among three members of Congress who made a brief visit to opposition-held northwest Syria on Sunday, the first known trip to the war-torn country by American lawmakers in six years.

Alex Brandon/AP

BEIRUT — Three Republican members of the U.S. Congress made a quick trip Sunday into opposition-held northwest Syria in the first known visit to the war-torn country by American lawmakers in six years. They urged the Biden administration and regional partners to keep up the pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The roughly one-hour stop was a signal of the significant support on Capitol Hill for the opposition in Syria’s long civil war.

U.S. Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, one of the three lawmakers, told The Associated Press by telephone after leaving Syria that the trip was the latest of his several to the region this summer to press the U.S. government and Arab allies to continue pushing for a political resolution to the war.

Hill said his message was in behalf of “those in Syria who want to have their own representative government.”

The conflict began in 2011 after Assad launched a campaign to crush what began as a peaceful uprising against his family’s autocratic rule. Assad has held on to power despite the uprising thanks in large part to the armed intervention by allies Russia and Iran. But the conflict has splintered the country, killed at least 300,000 civilians, and displaced half of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million.

The trip comes at a time that Middle East leaders have begun restoring relations with Assad’s government. By doing so, the…