Obama holds surprise meeting with Syrian opposition leader

President Barack Obama held a surprise meeting with Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba on Tuesday, in a gesture of growing cooperation between the White House and the mainstream Syrian opposition.

Jarba was originally not scheduled to meet with the US president during a trip to the US this week, and had instead held meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry. However, Obama dropped in on a meeting between Jarba and National Security advisor Susan Rice.

“Obama welcomed the coalition's leadership and constructive approach to dialogue, and encouraged the coalition to further its vision for an inclusive government that represents all of the people of Syria," the White House said in a statement following the meet.

The White House also said that Obama and Rice condemned "the [Bashar al-] Assad regime's deliberate targeting of Syrian civilians through aerial bombardments - including the use of barrel bombs - and the denial of food and humanitarian assistance to civilians located in areas under siege by the regime."

Jarba heads up the Syrian National Coalition, regarded by the West as Syria’s more mainstream and moderate opposition movement. He is at the tail end of a 10-day visit to the US, which prompted the granting of diplomatic mission status to the Syrian opposition. Jarba has largely used the trip to lobby the US for greater military and humanitarian assistance.

Washington has traditionally shied away from providing more advanced weapons to Syrian opposition, fearing that sensitive equipment like anti-aircraft missiles may make their way to the hands of more radical elements and be used against the US and its allies.

Jarba has publicly and privately tried to reassure the West that the weapons would only go to moderate forces within the coalition. While US spokespeople have acknowledged that the issue of arms has been discussed, they have not elaborated on the issue.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said earlier that Washington had worked hard to "ensure that the aid that we are providing the opposition is getting into the hands of the moderate opposition and not falling into the wrong hands".

"This is something that has been a concern and an issue, obviously, since the beginning of the conflict there, but it is one that we take very seriously, he added.

Jarba, according to a White House statement, thanked Obama for a total of $287m in US aid to opposition forces and noted the US role as the largest humanitarian donor to Syrian refugees with a total aid grant of $1.7bn, but there was no mention of Jarba's previous pleas for anti-aircraft weapons.

The Syrian National Coalition described the talks as "encouraging and productive" and a milestone on the road to a closer partnership between the Syrian people and the United States aimed at ending the suffering in the country and producing a transition to democracy.

A coalition statement also hinted at the need for more robust military help for opposition groups.

"The opposition delegation discussed the need to empower the Syrian people to defend themselves against the war crimes committed by the regime daily and the need for more pressure against Assad to accept a political solution," the statement said.

Jarba's visit came at an inauspicious time for opponents of Assad, after rebels pulled out of the battleground city of Homs and UN and Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi resigned after failing to broker a political solution to the war which has claimed 150,000 lives.