McCain in Syria: U.S. Senator John McCain is the highest ranking U.S. official to enter Syria since the civil war started more than two years ago, according to the Daily Beast.
McCain has supported more involvement from the United States in the ongoing war, including equipping the rebels with arms. President Barack Obama’s administration has said it’s committed to supporting the rebels, but not arming them.
McCain met with General Salem Idris, leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army.
“The visit of Senator McCain to Syria is very important and very useful especially at this time,” Idris told the Daily Beast. “We need American help to have change on the ground; we are now in a very critical situation.”
“What we want from the U.S. government is to take the decision to support the Syrian revolution with weapons and ammunition, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons,” Idris said. “Of course we want a no-fly zone and we ask for strategic strikes against Hezbollah both inside Lebanon and inside Syria.”
The trip was organized with help from the nonprofit organization Syrian Emergency Task Force. Two leaders of the organization attended all the meetings and discussed them with the Daily Best.
McCain has called on Obama to arm the rebels, saying “We could use our precision strike capabilities to target Assad’s aircraft and SCUD missile launchers on the ground without our pilots having to fly into the teeth of Syria’s air defenses.”
Obama emphasized in a recent press conference with Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the United States does not support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces are fighting the rebel opposition.
The U.S. has been supplying the rebels with equipment and gear, while engaging in peace talks with them and several other countries.
Neither McCain nor the rebels want U.S. troops on the ground.
