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The leaders of the Western-backed Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) launched a direct appeal to Congress today for more and better weapons to defeat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
SOC President Ahmad Jarba, in an appearance at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, said the rebels are in desperate need of weapons that can "neutralize the air force" that Assad has used to pound the cradle of the uprising, Homs, into submission, as reported by Barbara Slavin for Al-Monitor. Homs is the scene of a negotiated exit by opposition forces, a development in the three-year conflict that opposition champion John McCain, R-Ariz., labeled a "huge victory" for Assad in a hallway interview with Al-Monitor.
