Summary Syrian troops beat back rebels and advanced into Maalula, a historic Christian town near Damascus.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The cause of rebels fighting Syria s President Bashar Assad has been obscured in the rapid military and diplomatic events following a chemical weapons attack near Damascus, U.S. Sen. John McCain said Wednesday.
"I feel very badly for my friends in the Free Syrian Army today," said the Republican, who has said President Barack Obama should have acted more forcefully against Assad many months ago.
McCain spoke the morning after Obama used a nationally broadcast speech to seek public support for military action.
The senator told MSNBC he s not against negotiating to defuse the issue of Syria s chemical weapons and their use.
But he said, "There s nothing that will drive Syrians more into the hands of extremists than to feel they have been abandoned by the West."
One persistent question about U.S. policy in Syria is to what extent al-Qaida is involved in the efforts to end Assad s rule.
McCain said he is concerned that the new Russian plan for securing Syria s chemical weapons could be a delaying tactic. But he added that it should take only a few days for the U.S. to determine whether the proposal is serious and workable.
Meanwhile, Syrian government troops on Wednesday beat back Islamist rebels and advanced into Maalula, a historic Christian town near Damascus, state news agency SANA reported.
"Units from our heroic army have made major advances, chasing down terrorists from Al-Nusra Front in the town of Maalula," said an official cited by SANA.
The army "has made it across the town s main square and has reached the Mar Takla convent," said the source, adding that "dozens of terrorists have been wiped out".
The regime has used the word "terrorist" to its opponents ever since the start of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad s rule in March 2011.
The official also said eight rebels had been killed and 20 others wounded in fighting north of Maalula.
A security source earlier told AFP that "the army has not yet retaken Maalula" and that fighting between rebels against troops was "raging on".
The army s advance comes a day after rebels announced they would withdraw from Maalula, but that this was "conditional" on pro-regime forces not taking their place.
"The army and its shabiha (militias) must not enter into the town," a spokesman for the rebels said in an online video statement.
"To ensure no blood is spilt and that the properties of the people of Maalula are kept safe, the Free Syrian Army announces that the town of Maalula will be kept out of the struggle between the FSA and the regime army," he said.
On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and residents said rebel forces, including jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda, had overrun Maalula.
A nun from Mar Takla convent in Maalula told AFP by telephone that "there were fierce battles (on Tuesday) but the town was not shelled. We and the orphans we take care of are doing well, but we lack fuel".
The town, home to about 5,000 people, is strategically important for rebels, trying to tighten their grip around Damascus and who already have bases circling the capital.
