US Lawmakers Make Rare Visit to Northwestern Syria - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A small group of US lawmakers ventured into conflict-torn northwestern Syria on Sunday in what is the first such visit in a decade, US media reported.

Three Congress members, including Arkansas Republican Congressman French Hill, briefly crossed into the militant-controlled territory from neighboring Turkiye to visit a tent camp in the town of Jindires, according to the report.

Syria's northwest has borne the brunt of a devastating earthquake that rocked the region in February. It is controlled by a group listed as a terrorist organization by Russia, the United States and other countries.

Humanitarian aid to the area has been hampered by crushing Western sanctions on the Syrian government, as well as territorial divisions and questions over property rights where many owners have been displaced by fighting.

Displaced people reportedly complained to the Americans about being forgotten by aid donors and left to pick up the pieces on their own. They said they hoped that the visit would draw attention to their dire humanitarian situation.

Washington played a central role in the decade plus long dirty war aimed at toppling the government of Bashar Assad. The US has a contingent of troops and up to a dozen bases in the third of the country east of the Euphrates River containing Syria's richest agricultural lands and oil and gas resources. Part of the country's north is occupied by Turkish forces, while Israel occupies the Golan Heights. The US also has a major base in Syria's south along the Jordanian-Iraqi border, which Damascus and its allies have alleged has been used to train terrorist militants.

President Assad recently secured a normalization of ties with most countries in the Arab World, dramatically weakening the US effort to pressure Syria into submission via sanctions and other restrictions.