Voice of America quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof on Syrian Opposition Coalition President Ahmad Jarba’s recent visit to Washington:
Fred Hof, an expert on Syria at the Atlantic Council, told VOA that the Obama administration needs to do more than just grant the SOC “foreign mission” status and provide $27 million in additional nonlethal aid, steps that the Obama administration announced this week.
“It may be the path of least resistance now to do something significant that would alter the balance of power on the ground,” he said.
Otherwise, the latest U.S. pledges of support for the SOC will be essentially “empty gestures,” Hof said. “It’s never the announcement. It’s always the follow-up.”