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

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and ABBY SEWELL
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Three US Congress members have made a brief visit to opposition-held northwest Syria in the first known trip to the war-torn country by American lawmakers in six years. Representatives Ben Cline of Virginia, French Hill of Arkansas and Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin, all Republicans, entered Syria from Turkey via the Bab al-Salama crossing in northern Aleppo province. The last known trip by a U.S. lawmaker to Syria was in 2017, when Republican Sen. John McCain visited U.S. forces stationed in northeast Syria’s Kurdish region. Since the beginning of the uprising-turned-civil-war in Syria in 2011, the U.S. government has backed the opposition and has slapped sanctions on Assad’s government and associates over human rights concerns.