The Obama administration is poised to extend diplomatic status to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (a.k.a. "Syrian National Coalition") on the occasion of the visit to the White House of its leader, President Ahmad Jarba .

While the U.S. government closed the diplomatic representations of the Syrian Arab Republic on its territory as well as its own embassy in Damascus, it did not formally break off diplomatic relations with Syria.

The United States therefore recognizes de facto two Syrian representatives: the government of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Syrian National Coalition.

The Syrian National Coalition is an assemblage of Syrian personalities living in exile, sponsored by Saudi Arabia. It is chaired by ex-convict Ahmad Jarba (sentenced before the war for drug trafficking), who holds a dual Syrian and Saudi nationality and belongs to the same tribe as King Abdullah.

In Syria, the Syrian National Coalition is not recognized by any armed group (Islamic Front for Liberation Syria, Syrian Islamic Front, Al-Nusra Front, Islamic Emirate of Iraq and the Levant, Free Syrian Army [1] .

Worldwide, the Syrian National Coalition has offices in twelve countries: the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Turkey, the Vatican, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. It occupies Syria’s seat at the Arab League and is headquartered in Cairo.

Its flag is that of the French colonization: black, white, green with three stars representing the division in religious communities.

[1] The Free Syrian Army based in Turkey is the only exception.