Salim Idriss, the former Syrian army general who now heads the rebel Free Syrian Army's military command, is a key interlocutor for the West and could be the conduit for future US military aid.

In the West, Idriss is seen as a moderate voice, a counterbalance to some of the more unsavory radicals fighting within the opposition's ranks.

When US Republican Senator John McCain slipped into Syria briefly last month, he met Idriss, and has since praised the 55-year-old as a figure the United States can work with.

"General Idriss and his fighters share many of our interests and values," McCain said in a statement earlier this month.

A former military engineer, Idriss defected in July 2012, and was named as chief-of-staff for the newly formed military council overseeing the Free Syrian Army in December of that year.

Stocky and mustachioed, Idriss hails from the central province of Homs and has at times shown a penchant for fiery rhetoric.

Last month he warned the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah that rebels would "hunt" its members "even in hell" if they continued to fight alongside the Syrian government.

He studied engineering in Damascus and received his PhD in Germany. He speaks English, Arabic and German and is married with three daughters and two sons.

(China Daily 06/15/2013 page8)