The policy of arming military groups committed to overthrowing the
government of President Bashar al-Assad began in September 2011, when
President Barack Obama was pressed by his Sunni allies—Turkey, Saudi
Arabia and Qatar—to supply heavy weapons to a military opposition to
Assad they were determined to establish. Turkey and the Gulf regimes
wanted the United States to provide anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons
to the rebels, according to a former Obama Administration official
involved in Middle East issues.
