McCain Says Assad Has Gained the ‘Upper Hand’ in Syria

Senator John McCain, back from a surprise trip to Syria, offered his bleakest assessment yet of the hostilities there on Sunday, saying that opposition fighters were being “massacred” and that President Bashar al-Assad, with growing outside support, was tightening his grip on power.

“Remember all this talk we’ve heard for the last year or two - it’s inevitable that Bashar Assad will fall?” Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, asked during an appearance on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.” “Well, I think we can’t make that statement today.”

Mr. McCain, long one of the most outspoken voices in Washington for muscular intervention in the Syrian conflict, met early last week with rebel forces fighting the Assad government. He was the first United States senator to do so since fighting began two years ago, and on Sunday, he described what he said was a fast-deteriorating situation.

“We are seeing, unfortunately, a battlefield situation where Bashar Assad now has the upper hand, and it’s tragic while we sit by and watch,” he said.

As he has done repeatedly since the conflict began, Mr. McCain called for a no-flight zone over Syria and the creation of safe areas for rebels and refugees.

But the Obama administration remains wary of inserting itself too directly into a complicated Middle Eastern conflict alongside uncertain allies and against increasingly well-armed forces. So far, the United States has only given the rebels nonlethal material support.

Mr. McCain was skeptical that anything short of military support could turn the tables. Secretary of State John Kerry has been trying to arrange peace talks in Geneva between the Assad government and opposition leaders, but no date has been set.

“Hezbollah has now invaded, the Iranians are there, Russia is pouring weapons in, and anybody that believes that Bashar Assad is going to go to a conference in Geneva when he’s prevailing on the battlefield, it’s just ludicrous,” Mr. McCain said.

A senior Democratic senator, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, agreed that Mr. Assad’s forces had “regrouped,” adding, “He’s been able to reconstitute his forces.”

But like President Obama, Mr. Reed, speaking on “Face the Nation,” insisted that “this calls for ultimately a political solution.” He added that the United States should not take any options off the table and should focus on achieving a political arrangement in Geneva.

For his part, Mr. McCain gave a dire warning about the risks that the fighting will spread.

“It’s a slaughter, and the refugee camps are full, the Jordanians cannot last under the present situation, Lebanon is more and more tilting into chaos,” he said.

“This has every likelihood of turning into a regional conflict.”