WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, and U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), member of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will travel to the Middle East to meet with officials in Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Murphy and Peters will hold meetings to discuss ongoing anti-ISIL military operations in Iraq and Syria, and will visit a refugee camp in Jordan to learn firsthand about the critical role that the United States and its allies play in providing humanitarian assistance to millions of Syrian refugees.

“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. “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 Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. “Michigan servicemembers are among the many brave men and women who have deployed in support of the mission to eliminate ISIS, and 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.”