WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, conducted three interviews with NPR Radio, CNN International and the BBC World Service from Beirut, Lebanon, where she led a bipartisan delegation to the Middle East. During the interviews, Ranking Member Shaheen discussed her visit to Syria, where she met with President Al-Sharaa, ministers of the interim government and Syrian leaders from different faith and ethnic communities. She also discussed the economic reforms under way in Lebanon and her encouraging meetings with Lebanon’s political leaders on the progress toward decommissioning Hezbollah’s arms. Finally, Ranking Member Shaheen spoke on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the necessity for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine in order to achieve a lasting peace.
Watch Ranking Member Shaheen’s full interviews with NPR, CNN and BBC at the links.
Key quotes from Ranking Member Shaheen:
Syria:
CNN International: “I think there is a historic opportunity in Syria. After decades of a vicious dictator in Assad ... the Syrian people finally are able to see freedom in the country. Now, there is a lot of work to do. And in our conversations with interim President Sharaa, we talked about some of those challenges. We talked about the need to be inclusive, that there are a lot of groups that were marginalized during the Assad years, who have to be brought in.”
CNN International: “We had a great opportunity to meet with a number of representatives of some of those groups in a monastery in the hills outside of Damascus at an ecumenical gathering to talk about peace. And what we heard from everybody we talked to was they want to see a stable, unified Syria. They want to see a Syria that protects the rights of all of the people of Syria, they want to hold accountable those people who committed atrocities and who are still committing atrocities against their neighbors.”
BBC: “We started with an ecumenical meeting in the hills above Damascus at a monastery where we heard from different groups, both Christian and Muslim, about their interest. And what we heard across the board was that they want a unified Syria, a Syria that is not partitioned. They want a Syria that respects the rights of all of the groups there. They want a Syria that holds people accountable for atrocities and for any wrongdoings. So we then relayed that information to the President and to the ministers that we met with.”
BBC: “One of the things that President Al Sharaa said that I thought was telling, was that people who committed atrocities should be held accountable, even if they're people who are close to me, who worked with me in the fall of Assad. I thought that was a positive statement. Now we'll have to see how they move forward.”
BBC: “I think because we have a historic opportunity in Syria, as I've said, one that we haven't had in decades, for the country to unify, to move forward, to provide opportunities for the Syrian people. But in order for that to happen, we need to lift the sanctions that are preventing foreign countries and the private sector from coming in and investing there ... but Congress has to act now.”
NPR: “It's a nascent central government. And I think it's important for us to do everything we can to ensure that that government continues to move forward in a positive way. And I hope that Israel will be supportive of that as well.”
Lebanon:
CNN International: “One of the reasons I came to the Middle East this week is because there is a historic opportunity in Syria and Lebanon to change the direction that we've seen in both of those countries, Lebanon has made some very important, courageous moves to address the challenges that they face. They've elected a president after two years without one, they've put in place a technocratic Prime Minister who has ministers that are beginning to look at reforms to make the government work. In Lebanon, they've had judicial reform. They've had reform of their civil service. They're working on their infrastructure needs, on how to create more job opportunities. And one of the things that we've heard from everyone we've met with is that it is time now for all of the groups to think about how to live together in the future.”
CNN International: “One of the great advantages that Lebanon has in the Middle East is that they have a very diverse population where the religions have now decided that they are going to be able to live together in peace, and that's very important for the future. A piece of that is ensuring that Hezbollah no longer has weapons and is no longer militarized.”
CNN International: “I think a robust press corps is important in a democracy. It's important here in Lebanon. It's important in any democracy. And one of the reasons we're here is to try and ensure that Lebanon continues the progress and the really difficult, courageous decisions that are being made here right now, to ensure that they can move forward and to ensure that elections happen in the future, to ensure that the reforms continue and to ensure a better life for the Lebanese.”
Israel/Gaza:
CNN International: “I think Israel needs to not only address the obstacles at the border that they're keeping the trucks out, but they also need to address the distribution network within Gaza so that people are not being forced into four sites where, because of the inability to distribute to the people who need it, people have been killed. We know one of the things we heard from the Jordanians is that settlers, Israeli settlers, are attacking the trucks as they're trying to get them into Gaza. So the Netanyahu government needs to crack down on that. They need to make sure that that humanitarian assistance is getting in. No one in the United States, regardless of your political affiliation, wants to see children being starved to death.”
CNN International: “I would hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu is back at the negotiating table, working hard to come to an agreement around a cease fire that will free the hostages. It's been the hope of the hostage families of so many Israelis and people internationally to see a cease fire deal that allows those hostages to come home. He needs, I think he needs, to end this war in Gaza and find a way to make sure that the hostages who are still alive are brought home.”
CNN International: “We need to see what the plans are to ensure that the Palestinians have a state. It's been the position of the United States, as long as I've been involved in politics, that we should have a two state solution, that the Palestinians need their own homeland, and one of the things that will prevent future wars is to ensure that the Palestinians have a place that they can call home.”
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