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Where are you going? | |
| Or maybe a better question is, how far do you want to go? | ||
| And how fast do you want to get there? | ||
| Now we're getting somewhere. | ||
| So let's go. | ||
| Let's go faster. | ||
| Let's go further. | ||
| Let's go beyond. | ||
| Midco supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. | ||
| We want to welcome to the Washington Journal this morning Martin Smith. | ||
| He's the PBS frontline writer, producer, and correspondent of the new documentary called Syria After Assad. | ||
| Martin Smith, why did you decide to focus on Syria? | ||
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Well, in 2021, I had the opportunity to go to Idlib province and interview the fellow that is now president of Syria. | |
| Then he was going by Nom De Guerre, Al-Jalani. | ||
| And so I was the first Western journalist to interview him. | ||
| I had covered Syria for years, several documentaries over the years for Frontline. | ||
| But when he took Damascus and toppled Assad in 2024, in December of 2024, it was natural that I would go back and report on his Syria. | ||
| Let me show our viewers the opening of this documentary. | ||
| These amazing images all day coming out of Syria, right? | ||
| tens of thousands of people out on the streets celebrating, celebrating a new Syria and also tasting freedom after decades of repression. | ||
| One saw this coming. | ||
| Bashar al-Aqsa has clung on to power through years of civil war. | ||
| But now a new rebel movement has managed to topple his regime in less than two weeks. | ||
| What we've been seeing from the rebel leadership is a clear attempt to signal that they want an inclusive Syria and that they want to avoid more conflict. | ||
| The leader, Al-Jalani, has even interestingly, you know, dropped his jihadi nom de Ger. | ||
| He now calls himself by his original birth name, Ahmad al-Shara. | ||
| Even that is a signal that he is not trying to impose his jihadist position. | ||
| We are tracking one of the most extraordinary events in Middle East history. | ||
| This will have a profound impact on the region and beyond. | ||
| There's real joy here, but there's also real concern. | ||
| No one knows what's going to happen next. | ||
| Syria after Assad is the new PBS Frontline documentary. | ||
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Martin Smith is joining us. | |
| He's the writer, producer, and correspondent of this new film. | ||
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Martin Smith, so much to unpack in the imagery there, but before we get to this new leadership, talk about the word for the past. | |
| Watch the rest of this if you go to our free C-SPAN now video app as we take you to the U.S. Capitol, where the House is about to gavel in for what we expect to be a brief session today. | ||
| This is live coverage on C-SPAN. | ||
| The House will be in order. | ||
| Chairlays for the House communication from the Speaker. | ||
| The Speaker's Rooms, Washington, D.C., June 30th, 2025. | ||
| I hereby appoint the Honorable Michael K. Simpson to act as Speaker Pro Tempore on this day. | ||
| Signed, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives. | ||
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Prayer will be offered by Chaplain Kiwan. | |
| Would you pray with me? | ||
| For those among us who are suffering in body, mind, or spirit, let us pray to you, O Lord, with those who are cheerful, enjoying the fruits of your bounty in their lives. | ||
| Let us all sing your praise. | ||
| For those in this body and others whose names come to our mind, let us come together as believers and pray over them, anointing them with the balm of your healing spirit. | ||
| Then let us claim the effectiveness of these prayers, believing that our prayers of faith will save the one who is sick and you, O Lord, will raise them up from their suffering. | ||
| Let us also live this day believing that those who have committed sins, if we ourselves have sinned or others have trespassed against us, that we and they will each be forgiven. | ||
| May we take this opportunity to confess our sins to one another and to pray for one another, that as a body which finds its life in you, we may be healed. | ||
| In the righteousness we receive, in your name we pray, trusting in the great power you are working in us. | ||
| Amen. | ||
| Amen. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 13 of Rule 1, the journal of the last day's proceedings is approved. | ||
| The chair will lead the house in the Pledge of Allegiance. | ||
| I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 13 of Rule 1, the House stands adjourned until 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025. | ||
| And wrapping up this brief session of the U.S. House, members are in a district work period this week for the 4th of July holiday. | ||
| However, House leaders have notified lawmakers to expect votes on the GOP tax and spending cuts bill as early as Wednesday morning. | ||
| Watch live coverage of the House when members return here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Huge challenge for him to bring peace, stability, and get inclusion from the people of Syria. | ||
| So he is working hard. | ||
| He came into Syria, I mean, came into Damascus into the new government and very quickly had to form a government. | ||
| He hardly had the resources or the manpower to take over a country. | ||
| Up in Idlib, he had maybe 3 million people under his, you know, that he was ruling, and then suddenly he had a country of 25 or so million people that he had to administer to. | ||
| He changed his name. | ||
| Can you talk about that? | ||
| Well, his birth name was Ahmed al-Shara. | ||
| His nom de guerre that he'd taken on was Muhammad al-Jalani. | ||
| He kept, he was very secretive for many years. | ||
| He came to the fight against Assad in 2000, around 2011, when the people were rising up against Assad. | ||
| But as soon as he took office, he dropped his nom de guerre and adopted his birth name, Ahmed al-Sharra. | ||
| And what is the symbolism of that? | ||
| Well, I think that it indicates that he is no longer a jihadist, which those are his roots. | ||
| So he was dropping that and going back to his birth name. | ||
| He was no longer at war. | ||
| He was now the interim president of a new Syria. | ||
| We're taking your questions and your comments this morning about the fall of Assad. | ||
| The Syria after Assad is the name of the documentary, the title by PBS Frontline and Martin Smith. | ||
| And we'll take your questions and comments about Syria and U.S. policy toward the Syria and the Middle East here this morning. | ||
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Republicans dial in at 202-748-8001. | |
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| You can also text with your question or comment at 202-748-8003. | ||
| Martin Smith, what changes have been made in the six months since the fall of Assad, and what transformations are you seeing? | ||
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Well, the biggest change is perhaps the most recent change, which is the lifting of sanctions. | |
| Sanctions were imposed on Syria during the Assad regime. | ||
| President Trump lifted not all, but many of those sanctions in a speech he gave in Saudi Arabia on a recent trip to the Middle East. | ||
| The Syrian economy is in dire straits and in need of investment, in need of a banking system, all of which was stymied by the imposition of these sanctions over the years, and it had really hollowed out the economy. | ||
| But other changes that have happened are that he sees resistance from various quarters of the country, most notably in the south with the Druze, religious minority, the Alawites along the Mediterranean coast and up in the northeast from the Kurds. | ||
| Getting everybody to be on board and rowing in the same direction has been a major challenge for him. | ||
| And as I said, he didn't have the resources that he needed when he came in. | ||
| But there he is, and I think he's, you know, I met him in 2021. | ||
| My impression was that he was sincere, that he was dropping his affiliation with al-Qaeda. | ||
| He was dropping his affiliation with ISIS. | ||
| His interest was in toppling Assad. | ||
| He had no interest in international terrorism. | ||
| And he was remarkably open and shared a lot of information. | ||
| I was there for seven days in Idlib in 2021. | ||
| And, you know, now he's got to do the hard part, which is governing. | ||
| Winning the war, you know, took him a long time, but I think governing is a greater and more complicated challenge for him. | ||
| Martin Smith is our guest here this morning. | ||
| You can join the conversation here with your questions or your comments. | ||
| Excuse me, this PBS Frontline documentary will air tomorrow, July 1st, at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 9 p.m. Central. | ||
| It's also available to watch at pbs.org slash frontline. | ||
| Martin Smith, what do you hope the American audience gets out of watching this documentary? | ||
| Well, first of all, I think I hope that they understand the man better. | ||
| It's very easy to look at his past and say, this is bad. | ||
| Nothing can come of this that's any good. | ||
| But we've seen this in history. | ||
| People have participated in armed battles. | ||
| We'll take you live now to a press briefing with State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce. | ||
| This is live coverage on C-SPAN. |