Gabbard opposes the US removing Syrian President
Bashar Al-Assad from power.[SUP]
[130][/SUP] She has described
US regime-change involvement in Syria as a source of the
Syrian refugee crisis.[SUP]
[131][/SUP]
In 2013 Gabbard opposed the Obama administration's proposed military strikes in
Syria, arguing that intervention in Syria would go against America's national security, international credibility, economic interest, and moral center.[SUP]
[132][/SUP] She later introduced legislation to block U.S. military action against Syria.[SUP]
[133][/SUP] She has described
US involvement in the Syrian Civil War as "our counterproductive regime-change war", and said that it is this "regime-change war that is causing people to flee their country".[SUP]
[131][/SUP] She was one of three members of Congress to vote against House resolution 121, which condemned the
government of Syria and "other parties to the conflict" for war crimes and crimes against humanity,[SUP]
[134][/SUP] saying that though Assad is a brutal dictator, this resolution "is a War Bill—a thinly veiled attempt to use the rationale of 'humanitarianism' as a justification for overthrowing the Syrian government". She explained that the resolution "urges the administration to create 'additional mechanisms for the protection of civilians', which is coded language for the creation of a so-called no-fly/safe zone." Gabbard has rejected suggestions for the creation of a
no-fly zone in Syria, stating that it would cost "billions of dollars, require tens of thousands of ground troops and a massive U.S. air presence, and it won't work", and that such a move would risk confrontation with Russia.[SUP]
[135][/SUP][SUP]
[136][/SUP]
