House votes to arm Syrian rebels with eye toward Assad
Regime change in Syria remains the endgame for measure's earliest supporters.
The US House of Representatives voted 273-156 on Sept. 17 to train and equip vetted Syrian rebels, sending the measure to the Senate for quick action before Congress leaves town until after the November midterm elections.
While the immediate goal is to defeat the Islamic State (IS), key lawmakers made clear that their ultimate objective remains the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The handful of House and Senate members who have supported the mission for more than a year — long before IS, ISIS and ISIL became household names — said they remain committed to regime change in Syria and expressed concern that the Barack Obama administration has put that goal to rest.
"The crisis does not end unless the moderate opposition is empowered to show the Syrian people that they can fight ISIS and win, and later on they’ll fight Assad and win," Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said on the House floor the day before the vote. "Through this strategy, the moderate opposition can gain leverage and create the conditions on the ground to compel a political solution."
Engel introduced the first bill to arm vetted Syrian rebels 18 months ago. Since then, the bill has only garnered seven co-sponsors.
