This move, it appears, is in response to this week’s confirmation that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, even though the first reports that Assad loyalists were using banned substances first reached the CIA at the end of last year.

But even if Mr Obama lives up to his promise, and the U.S. does intensify its efforts to arm the rebels, I fear it will be too little, too late. Setting aside for the moment how Washington can ensure that its arms supplies get to the right rebels, and not their al-Qaeda infiltrators, the sad truth is that the tide of the war has now swung irrevocably behind the Assad regime – mainly thanks to the support it has received from Iran and Russia.

Consequently, when this war is over and the Assad gang are still left clinging to power in Damascus, it will not only be the Syrian people who are the losers in this contest. The U.S. will have suffered an immense blow to its international standing, with Russia and Iran proving to be the true victors in the Syrian conflict.