Senator John McCain spoke favorably of the opposition forces in Syria on Wednesday morning, defending their need for aid while dispelling assertions that they were Islamic extremists.
During a breakfast with the Wall Street Journal, McCain maintained that his contacts in Damascus, including head of the Free Syrian Army Salim Idris, informed him Islamic radicals "are in a minority" among Syrians.
"The Syrian people are moderate," he told the WSJ. "The Syrians are not going to stand to be governed by al Nusra and foreign fighters. They're not. They're the most highly educated, most literate nation in the Middle East. And to somehow believe they are going to fall prey to al Qaeda and al Nusra is not a possibility."
McCain, who has backed American involvement in Syria most publicly for years, also noted that holding out on American financial support for the opposition forces could sway citizens to consider Islamist groups as viable alternatives to the Assad regime.
"If they feel abandoned, I worry about the consequences," he continued, commenting that the Assad regime will, "turn to whoever will help them in this struggle.
"I guarantee you I'm going to hear from Gen. Idris today, and he's going to say, 'Have you abandoned us? Have you abandoned us?'"
Meanwhile, Russian and US governmental bodies are moving forward with plans to dismantle Syria's chemical arsenal, which officials told the BBC would be "doable but difficult."
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov defined three key parts for the proposed disarmament: first, Syria must join the Chemical Weapons Convention, then Assad's government must disclose the location of its chemical weaponry and allow the international community to determine how to move them out.
Although the US has upheld that the Syrian regime killed hundreds of men, women and children during a gas attack in August, Assad's government has denied the allegations.
