future authoritarians, when faced with peaceful protest, may look to the syrian case and assume that maximilian homicide will not be challenged in any credible way, setting new president for conduct in war -- precedent for conflict and war. concerns, it is not a conflict that can be contained or ignored. the rapid development shaping both the battlefield and political realignment syria will not end this conflict, it will only set conditions for the next phase of war. group's final report remains relevant today, which my colleague will now detail. thank you. >> thank you. your recognized for five minutes. thanks so much for this opportunity to testify and thank you to congress for the opportunity to serve as cochair of the study group. it was an honor to serve alongside my cochair. syria does matter in syria has resisted all of our efforts over the years to ignore it, to contain the conflict, to cauterize the conflict as some used to say. it still matters. the report that we put out just a couple weeks ago offering what i think is a pretty sobering assessment of the conflict. i wouldn't want to