Images of dead Syrian children washing ashore in Turkey may serve to overcome that which is charitably described as "Syria fatigue:" widespread American and international apathy in the face of a grotesque and growing humanitarian abomination in which civilians are deliberately targeted for murder. This is a catastrophe with policy consequences. What are its dimensions and what options exist for mitigation?
 
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported that the United Nations and its partners were unable to deliver food and aid to over 422,000 people in besieged areas in July. On August 13, US Representative to the United Nations Samantha Power decried the Syrian regime’s dropping of over 2,000 barrel bombs over a six-week period; the following weekend barrel bombs killed over 100 people in the Damascus suburb of Douma. Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Chief Antonio Guterres said the number of refugees is forecasted to reach 4.27 million by year end. While the United States expands its coalition with new partners to fight the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL), the Assad regime atrocities answered with words but no action bolster ISIS in its worldwide recruitment.
 
Please join Ambassador Frederic C. Hof of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and a panel of distinguished experts for a discussion centering on the protection of Syrian civilians: the parameters of the problem and policy options for its mitigation.

DATE:         Wednesday, September 16, 2015

TIME:         11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 
Light lunch will be served. 

LOCATION:     Atlantic Council
1030 15th St NW, 12th floor (West Tower)
Washington, DC 20005