A group of U.S. Senators recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump expressing concerns about his recent decision to freeze $200 million in funding for stabilization efforts in Syria, including a possible ISIS resurgence and increased foreign influence in the region.
“Providing sufficient funding to the stabilization effort is critical to ensuring that ISIS does not regain its foothold in areas that coalition and Syrian partner forces have made great sacrifices to liberate,” Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Ben Cardin (D-MD), members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in the letter.
The senators also wrote that the funding freeze could endanger American troops currently deployed in Syria and Iraq and allow other actors, such as Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime, to increase their influence in Syria and the surrounding region.
The senators requested that the funding is restored. If it remains frozen, they wrote, an analysis of its potential impacts on ongoing and planned stabilization programs, the counter-ISIS strategy and Iranian and Russian influence in Syria should be conducted. They also requested information on the process the Trump administration used to obtain input from the State Department, USAID, and the Department of Defense on the decision to freeze the funding.
The letter follows Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, which critics say will further destabilize the region.
“This decision risks leaving the fight against ISIS unfinished,” the senators wrote. “We strongly encourage you to ensure that stabilization efforts in Syria are not hampered and that appropriated funds be used as Congress intended.”