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President Barack Obama is expected to meet with the head of Syria's opposition council in the coming days, as the U.S. weighs the possibility of more economic sanctions aimed at changing Syrian President Bashar Assad's calculus ahead of June elections.

A White House official said Obama would see Ahmad al-Jarba while the opposition leader is in Washington for meetings with Secretary of State John Kerry and other U.S. officials. The exact day of Obama's meeting was unclear, though it's likely to occur after the president returns from a three-day trip to the West Coast that kicks off Wednesday.

The official insisted on anonymity in order to confirm Obama's meeting before it was publicly announced.

Jarba's trip to Washington comes as the Obama administration is boosting its support for the Syrian Opposition Council. The State Department announced Monday that it would give the opposition's offices in Washington and New York formal diplomatic status and increase non-lethal assistance to the opposition by $27 million.

The administration recognized the opposition council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in December 2012, but its U.S. offices had been recognized only as informal liaison bureaus until this week.

The moves come at a critical time in the conflict as Assad's government has made recent battlefield gains and is planning presidential elections in June. The administration is considering taking additional steps in the coming days, including the possibility of levying new sanctions on the Assad regime.

Earlier U.S. sanctions on Assad and his associates have had little impact in stemming the bloody civil war that has stretched into a fourth year. More than 150,000 people have been killed in the clashes between rebels and forces loyal to Assad, with millions of others displaced by the war.

The White House has denounced the June presidential elections in Syria as a farce aimed at giving Assad the veneer of electoral legitimacy. Assad has ruled Syria since 2000, when he took over from his late father.

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Matthew Lee and http://twitter.com/APDiploWriter

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Obama to Meet With Syrian Opposition Leader

Surveying the remnants of nature's destructive power in the country's midsection, President Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to residents of tornado-ravaged Arkansas communities that their government will stand with them until they finish rebuilding.

Obama said he wanted to visit this small city about a half-hour north of Little Rock to make sure those grieving the loss of loved ones, their homes and treasured possessions know that they will not be forgotten.

"I'm here to make sure that they know and that everybody who's been affected knows that the federal government's going to be right here until we get these communities rebuilt," Obama said after walking through a subdivision in which just six of its 56 homes had any part still standing after storms tore across the state on April 27, killing 15 people.

"When something like this happens to a wonderful community like this one, it happens to all of us," he said.

Obama first surveyed the wreckage by air, peering down from the windows of his helicopter onto a subdivision of short cul-de-sacs that was destroyed. The still-visible rubble was evidence of the random but surgical devastation a twister is capable of.

After meeting privately with grieving families, emergency workers and local officials, Obama set out on foot through a section of Vilonia, where residents felt a sense of deja vu. Four people died after a tornado hit Vilonia in 2011.

He also stopped alongside a pile of debris and wooden planks to chat with Daniel Smith and his sons, Gabriel Dority, 9, and Garrison Dority, 6.

"This town has seen more than its fair share of tragedy," Obama observed, speaking in front of the wreckage of destroyed homes. The sunny afternoon beneath a nearly cloudless sky was a sharp contrast to the dark storms that struck less than two weeks ago. "But folks here are tough, they look out for one another and that's been especially clear over the past week."

Obama said there is a lot of cleanup and rebuilding that remains to be done to make Vilonia whole again "but I'm here to remind them they're not doing this work alone. Your country's going to be here for you. We're going to support you every step of the way."

"I could not be more impressed by the spirit of community that is here," he said.

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