RIYADH, Saudi Arabia President Barack Obama is considering allowing shipments of new air defence systems to the Syrian opposition, a US official said yesterday, as Obama sought to reassure Saudi Arabia’s king that the US is not taking too soft a stance in Syria and other Mideast conflicts.
A key US ally, Saudi Arabia would be likely to cheer a decision by Obama to allow the portable missile launchers into Syria. Saudi officials were dismayed when Obama scrapped plans last year to launch a strike against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, and they have been pressing the White House on the issue. The Saudis could play a direct role in sending the systems, known as “manpads,” to the rebels fighting Al Assad’s forces.
Manpads are compact missile launchers with the range and explosive power to attack low-flying planes and helicopters. Assad’s forces are known to have them, and some have been brought into Syria by rebels and their sympathizers.
The Saudis have held off providing them in the past because of US opposition.
Word of Obama’s potential shift came as Obama was paying a visit to King Abdullah’s desert oasis at the conclusion of a weeklong, four-country trip. The aging monarch has been nervously watching Washington’s negotiations with Iran and other U.S. policy developments in the Middle East.
Secretary of State John Kerry sat at the president’s side for the visit - Obama’s third official meeting with the king in six years. They met for nearly two hours.
