Gen. Salim Idris’ departure from Syria is “a big problem” but the United States continues to support him and the moderate opposition, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today.

Idris is the head of the Free Syrian Army who reportedly fled Syria to Qatar this weekend after Islamic fighters took control of his group’s headquarters and warehouses in northern Syria stocked with U.S. aid. That seizure prompted an end of U.S non-lethal assistance to rebels in that part of Syria to prevent it from getting into the hands of extremist rebels.

At a Pentagon news conference today with the visiting defense minister of Singapore, Hagel acknowledged Idris’ departure as “a big problem and we’re going to have to work through it and manage through it with General Idris and moderate opposition.”