Thank you, Chair.
Your Excellency, thanks for appearing before the committee.
I hope you're staying safe in Lebanon, along with our members of the embassy in Beirut. We're thinking of you. Our thoughts are with you and everyone there.
Ambassador, Canada has lifted some broad sanctions on Syria, which were placed during the Assad regime. We know that ethnic and religious minorities are under attack by some of the fighters or groups from the government forces. Have you raised that with the regime?
Why would we lift sanctions the way we did after learning that ethnic minorities, religious minorities.... They're not minorities. They refuse to call themselves minorities. We're talking about millions of people, including Alawites, Druze, Kurds and Christians. They are still under attack, and they don't feel safe at all. They are very vulnerable at the moment, and the regime will not assure them of anything.
Why did we lift those sanctions knowing that the regime is still not protecting its own citizens?