U.S. Senator McCain Enters Syria to Meet Rebels
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
U.S. Senator John McCain crossed from Turkey into Syria Monday to meet with rebel leaders in the war-torn nation, according to a spokesman for the top lawmaker who advocates arming the Syrian opposition.
McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, slipped across the border in an unannounced visit lasting several hours before he returned to Turkey.
"I can confirm the trip. It was today," aide Brian Rogers said, confirming a report that first appeared on The Daily Beast, adding that no other lawmakers traveled with McCaininto Syria.
The visit came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met his Russian counterpart in Paris for talks aimed at breathing life into a peace conference on ending the conflict in Syria, where tens of thousands of people have been killed since March 2011.
The Daily Beast, a U.S. news website, said that McCain entered the country with General Salem Idris, leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army.
During the talks, rebel leaders asked for increased U.S. support to the Syrian opposition by providing heavy weapons, establishing a no-fly zone and carrying out air strikes on Syrian regime forces, The Daily Beast reported.
"The visit of Senator McCain to Syria is very important and very useful especially at this time," the report quoted Idris as saying.
"We need American help to have change on the ground; we are now in a very critical situation."
McCain is among the sharpest critics of the Syria policy of U.S. President Barack Obama, who has signed off on Washington providing non-lethal and humanitarian aid to the rebels but has so far refused to provide arms.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces have mounted intense assaults on the rebels over the past week, particularly in the insurgent bastion of Qusayr, in central Syria.
Earlier this month, U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford -- who was recalled from Damascus in October 2011 over concerns for his safety -- met with a Syrian rebel chief at a border crossing with Turkey.
27 May 2013, 23:57
83
Maybe next trip, he will be picked up by Al Qaeda and get his head chopped.
28 May 2013, 18:34
10
So what?! People always throwing around the accusation of being friends with the US as though that's such a bad thing. Arabs are brainwashed in that way. US is far better than Iran or Russia!
28 May 2013, 10:30
11
The best way to kill a revolution in the arab world is to let in the KSA, qatar and the US regimes. I remember not long ago, iraqi shiites were cheering american "help" in toppling their dictator, the result was -1 dictator + 1dictator -hundreds of thousands killed, countless people tortured/injured or raped, no security, no strong state nor army but lots of division, hate, crime, poverty, emigration, death and so on. Too bad arabs never seem to learn. Mccain is not and has never been a friend of syrians, he has his own agenda, as has the puppets of KSA and qatar. Bashar is another arab who never learns, when he took the power from his dad, he could have ended the opressive baath and avoided the coming strife that was about to happen in a region where majorities do not accept to be ruled by an opressive minority. So many misstakes done and so many are being done right now, all because leaders and people alike fail to think with reason.
28 May 2013, 10:45
41
Did nasrallah also bring up shiite cooperation with israel? If not then he should shut his mouth because shiites are no strangers to being traitors. He even took the US puppet maliki who has caved to israel plenty as his ally just because he is shiite. When it suits you, it's ok to cooperate with zionists? I say, its never ok and i condemn the muslims who do before condemning anyone else as do most of us. Those who follow leaders blindly, as you do with bashar, are blinded, brainwashed and have no sence of reality. You are like the saudi journalists who report about when their king woke up or how good he is at putting on his shoes. You guys are all alike, but you have chosen a diffirent dictator to be slaves to.
28 May 2013, 18:23
10
like aoun who asked several times the help of the US against syrian s presence in lebanon and to disarm hezbollah... was he working for israel too? LOL.....
