U.S. Senator McCain calls for military intervention in Syria

U.S. Senator John McCain proposed a military intervention to protect civilians in Syria now that NATO’s operations in Libya are almost completed. “Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria,” McCain said addressing the World Economic Forum in Jordan on Sunday. He said that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “should not consider that it can get away with mass murder,” adding that the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi “made that mistake and it cost him everything.” Gaddafi was captured and killed last week by forces loyal to the new government of Libya. McCain, who is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not specify whether he meant the U.S. or NATO presence in Syria. The United Nations says 3,000 people have been killed in Assad's crackdown on protests, 187 of them children. Syrian authorities blame armed groups for the violence and say 1,100 soldiers and police have been killed since March.