McCain, Lieberman visit Syrian refugee camp, urge US to arm anti-Assad forces

By Jeremy Herb - 04/10/12 03:19 PM ET

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) visited a Syrian refugee camp on the Turkey-Syria border Tuesday, as they accused the international community of failing the people of Syria and called for military action against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The pair met with leaders of the Syrian National Council and Free Syrian Army and members of the anti-Assad resistance during their trip to the Middle East.

The senators’ visit to the camp in Hatay, Turkey, was unrelated to a visit from United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has proposed a peace plan that’s supposed to begin taking effect Tuesday.

Annan said Tuesday that the Syrian government failed to send a "powerful political signal of peace," according to the BBC, and the senators said in a joint statement there was no sign of Assad letting up.

“We respect Mr. Annan's desire to find an end to the killing in Syria,” the senators said. “Unfortunately, Bashar al-Assad does not share this goal. That fact has been clear to many of us for months, but it should now be undeniable for everyone.”

The senators have led the call for more action in Syria, including supplying arms to the opposition and air strikes. The Obama administration has opposed supplying arms to the rebels, warning that it could cause further militarization.

McCain and Lieberman said that the international community is “failing the people of Syria” by only providing humanitarian aid. While they acknowledged that the Obama administration was now providing communications equipment to the opposition, they said, “that doesn't do much against tanks.”

“It is not a fair fight,” the senators said. “Under these conditions, no one should think that Assad will stop killing and leave power anytime soon. Indeed, the unanimous opinion of everyone we have spoken with on our visit is that there is no end in sight to the horrific violence in Syria.”