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U.S. Sen. Murphy Heads To Middle East To Discuss Anti-isil Operations

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is part of a group meeting with Middle East officials from several countries to discuss ongoing anti-ISIL military operations in Iraq and Syria.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy will meet with officials in Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy will meet with officials in Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Photo Credit: www.murphy.senate.gov

Murphy (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), a member of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will meet with officials in Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, according to a press release.

(Murphy uses ISIL, instead of ISIS, but the two acronyms refer to the same group. ISIS stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and ISIL stands for Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the historic name given to the region east of the Mediterranean from Egypt, east to Iran and to Turkey. U.S. officials use ISIL to emphasize the group's goal to expand beyond the borders of Syria and Iraq.)

Besides discussing how the fight against the terrorist group ISIL is going, the senators will visit a refugee camp in Jordan to learn firsthand about the critical role the United States and its allies play in providing humanitarian assistance to millions of Syrian refugees, according to a press release.

“With a war raging against ISIL and a refugee crisis of staggering proportions, the Middle East is awash in crippling violence that presents a threat to our national security,” said Murphy in a press release. “The United States is strongest when we work with our partners abroad. Over the next several days, I will join my friend, Senator Peters, to listen to our allies and discuss our joint response to the threat posed by destabilizing forces in the region."

“As a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I’m highly concerned with the national security threats posed by ISIS and continued instability in the Middle East,” said Peters, a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve, in a press release. “I look forward to meeting with our partners in the region to discuss our mutual goals of fighting terrorism and extremism and addressing the dire humanitarian crisis resulting from this violence.”

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