U.S. Senate Republican John McCain and a delegation of Senate Armed Services Committee members visited Saudi Arabia on Saturday as part of a broad tour of the region to discuss American-Saudi joint efforts to back moderate Syrian rebels in that country’s 4-year old civil war.
According to the Guardian, McCain and the Senate Armed Services Committee members”met the commander of Saudi Arabia’s training and equipment program and with Ahmed al-Jarba, whom it identified as the president of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC). Al-Jarba stepped down as SNC president in July 2014. The current SNC president is Khaled Khoja. The reason for the discrepancy in McCain’s tweet was not immediately clear.”
In #KSA delegation met w/ #Syrian Opposition Coalition Pres Ahmed Jarba & commander of Saudi Train & Equip program pic.twitter.com/gIXn5MPgHn
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) January 18, 2015
According to the Guardian, which cited Qatar’s state news agency, the delegation included Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina; Joe Donnelly, Democrat, Indiana; Angus King, an Independent from Maine; and Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, the state news agency reported.
