Hisham Marwa, member of the legal committee, said that the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) “that authorizes the Secretary of Defense to provide equipment, training, supplies, and defense services to assist vetted members of the Syrian opposition is “a diplomatic move that indicates a clear change in the American public opinion. There is no doubt that the decisions of the U.S. Senate is a benchmark through which we can predict the position of the American people towards the Syrian Revolution. This move is also a message to the Russian and Chinese veto that there are other measure that the United States can resort to in response to the veto that has disrupted the international efforts aimed at holding perpetrators of war crimes in Syria to account, which clearly indicates that the Russians are quite certain that Bashar al-Assad is the sole perpetrators of these crimes. Marwa also stated that the U.S Senate’s bill would encourage the Friends of Syria countries to step up support for the Syrian people and not limiting it to relief aid. Moreover, this logical move comes as a result of the failure of Geneva II talks which was widely blamed in the intransigence of the Assad regime and its rejection of all the international efforts aimed at bringing about a political solution. (Source: Syrian Coalition)