Later today, Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, will become the first US senator to publicly call for US-led air strikes to halt the violence and atrocities being committed by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, according to the Cable, a Foriegn Policy Magazine website blog.

"After a year of bloodshed, the crisis in Syria has reached a decisive moment," McCain will say Monday afternoon in a speech on the Senate floor, according to excerpts obtained in advance by The Cable.

"What opposition groups in Syria need most urgently is relief from Assad's tank and artillery sieges in many cities that are still contested. Homs is lost for now, but Idlib, and Hama, and Qusayr, and Deraa, and other cities in Syria could still be saved. But time is running out. Assad's forces are on the march. Providing military assistance to the Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups is necessary, but at this late hour, that alone will not be sufficient to stop the slaughter and save innocent lives. The only realistic way to do so is with foreign airpower." McCain will say.