A surprise in Syria yesterday as U.S. Republican Senator John McCain managed to go where relatively few reporters can go, into war-ravaged Syria.
McCain entered the country from the border with Turkey and held talks with leaders of the Free Syrian Army. They gave the ranking G.O.P. member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a wish list of things McCain is on record supporting: they want heavy weapons to fight the Syrian regime, a no fly zone to suppress the air forces of Syrian President Assad, and they want the U.S. and its allies to carry out airstrikes against Syrian government positions and Hezbollah forces. The Obama administration had no comment on the McCain trip.
Meanwhile, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces based in Lebanon are making the Syrian civil war a more regional conflict with fighting spilling across the border between Hezbollah and opposition forces.
Finally, the European Union ended its arms embargo on the Syrian opposition yesterday, which could mean new arms will flow to the rebels just as a peace conference in Geneva struggles to convene next month.
Lyse Doucet,  BBC Chief International Correspondent, and David Speedie, Senior Fellow and Director of the U.S. Global Engagement Program at the Carnegie Council, weigh in on the developments in Syria.