Syria opposition leader seeks anti-aircraft weapons to counter Assad's forces

Ahmad Jarba, president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, tells a Washington audience that his group wants to set up an interim government in "liberated" areas but is being hampered by the Syrian regime’s use of barrel bombs and rockets.
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President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition Ahmad Jarba (R), speaks at the United States Institute of Peace as William Taylor, USIP’s vice president for the Middle East and Africa, looks on in Washington, May 7, 2014. - Barbara Slavin
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Barbara Slavin
@BarbaraSlavin1

Ahmad Jarba, president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), appealed May 7 for “effective, efficient weapons” to counter the barrel bombs and other airstrikes used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad against the Syrian people.

But Jarba, on his first visit to Washington, did not specify which weapons — an apparent acknowledgment that he is unlikely to receive from the United States the portable anti-aircraft missiles known as MANPADS that the Syrian opposition has sought unsuccessfully for months.

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