Syria, Arming Rebels, & Khan's Sikander

From yesterday's New York Times article "U.S. Steps Up Aid to Syrian Opposition, Pledging $60 Million:"

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the United States would provide food rations and medical supplies to the Free Syrian Army, the military wing of the opposition that is fighting to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The assistance represents the first time that the United States has publicly committed itself to sending nonlethal support for armed factions that are battling the Assad government in the two-year-old uprising. But the supplies Mr. Kerry announced fell well short of the weapons and equipment Syrian rebels have requested.

I can't find any good novels on the Syrian uprising or Syria's recent history. Suggestions welcome.

But I do have a book recommendation: a novel about one of the US's previous experiences in arming rebels in southwest Asia, M. Salahuddin Khan's Sikander:

It's 1986. Seventeen-year-old Sikander, dreams of studying and living in America, but in a blind rage after a family quarrel, he leaves his Peshawar, Pakistan home. Encountering mujahideen warriors, he joins them in their fight against the occupying Soviets in neighboring Afghanistan. American assistance is stepped up with advanced weapons, like the Stinger missile, and the mujahideen begin prevailing against the Soviets...