mr. nahas? reporter: mr. nahas: members of the committee, thank you for offering me the honor to share my story. in the context of the larger events happening in the world and here in the united states. my story mirrors the story of many other lgbt individuals. heading to the university, and organized group of militants accosted me because they perceive me as gay. had announcedue they would cleanse the city of all sodomites. isis had not yet been formed. gay manme targeted all in the country. i fled from my home country of syria in 2012. after living in a country of lebanon for six months, i moved to turkey. activism meant that even in turkey i once again found myself in danger. extremist groups like al qaeda and isis were gaining strength and access there. i was not safe because of my sexual identity. a syrian friend informed me i had been targeted for death. the director helped me with a un refugee agency. iior to my resettlement, completed an extremely thorough screening process. that included testifying un

mr. nahas? reporter: mr. nahas: members of the committee, thank you for offering me the honor to share my story. in the context of the larger events happening in the world and here in the united states. my story mirrors the story of many other lgbt individuals. heading to the university, and organized group of militants accosted me because they perceive me as gay. had announcedue they would cleanse the city of all sodomites. isis had not yet been formed. gay manme targeted all in the country. i fled from my home country of syria in 2012. after living in a country of lebanon for six months, i moved to turkey. activism meant that even in turkey i once again found myself in danger. extremist groups like al qaeda and isis were gaining strength and access there. i was not safe because of my sexual identity. a syrian friend informed me i had been targeted for death. the director helped me with a un refugee agency. iior to my resettlement, completed an extremely thorough screening process. that included testifying un

mr. nahas. >> chairman johnson, ranking member carper, members of the committee, thank you for offering me the honor and the opportunity to be here today to share my story in the context of the larger events happening here in the world and here in the united states. my personal story mirrors the stories of many other lgbt individuals. one day i was heading to university. an organized group of militants accosted solely because they perceived me as gay. in a local mosque, they said they would clear the city of all sodomites. isis had not yet been formed. but the regime, they targeted all gay men in the country. i fled from my home country of syria in 2012. after living in a country of lebanon for six months, i moved to turkey. my history of activism for lgbt right meant that even in turkey, i once again find myself in danger. extremist groups like al qaeda and isis were gaining strength and access there. although i was employed for two years in a senior position with save the children internation

mr. nahas. >> chairman johnson, ranking member carper, members of the committee, thank you for offering me the honor and the opportunity to be here today to share my story in the context of the larger events happening here in the world and here in the united states. my personal story mirrors the stories of many other lgbt individuals. one day i was heading to university. an organized group of militants accosted solely because they perceived me as gay. in a local mosque, they said they would clear the city of all sodomites. they targeted all gay men in the country. i fled from my home country of syria in 2012. after living in a country of lebanon for six months, i moved to turkey. my history of activism for lgbt right meant that even in turkey, i once again find myself in danger. extremist groups like al qaeda and isis were gaining strength and access there. although i was employed for three years in a senior position with save the children international, i was still not safe because of my sexua

mr. nahas? >> i do not have the capacity to answer this question. >> nadia, do you want to respond to that question? do you believe painting this war -- against islam plays into the hands of isis? by pretraining this as a war against islam? >> [speaking foreign language] >> the first thing i did, i went to egypt to deliver that message. the things that happened to me, i wanted to go to this country and tell them what happened. >> [speaking foreign language] >> i want to prevent the youth from joining islamic state. i told them what crimes were committed. yoanted to stop the flow of uth to them. is notking against this help for daesh. you have to speak against it. >> [speaking foreign language] >> also minimizing the role of daesh for the power is not right. miles, andthan 3000 they protect it all. tens of thousands are fighting for them. >> [speaking foreign language] >> some of our villages are only 150 people. we have nothing to recapture these villages. how about big cities? it is not a small