The U.S. should establish a safe zone for rebels fighting against Syrian President's Bashar Assad’s regime, the Arizona Republican said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Assad is now prevailing in the battlefield against resistance troops, McCain said, warning the conflict has the potential of spreading throughout the Middle East. The U.S. and its allies, he said, should crater Syria’s runways with standoff Cruise missiles and use Patriot missiles close to the border to protect the safe zone.

McCain disputed suggestions that the U.S. shouldn’t get involved in Syria, warning that the situation there has gotten progressively worse and will continue to deteriorate unless something changes.

The White House, for its part, said in a press office statement on Wednesday that “The United States stands firmly on the side of the Syrian people in their fight for freedom and dignity. We will continue to provide support to the moderate political and military opposition to help them shift the balance on the ground to advance a political transition.” Singling out Assad, the statement continued, “Assad’s refusal to step aside is only prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people and postponing the inevitable. Assad’s reign will end, and the Syrian people will build a new, democratic Syria without him. Those who have committed these heinous crimes against the Syrian people will be held accountable.”

Obama has said that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was his “red line,” but in the wake of recent reports indicating that Assad may have used those, the earlier position was downplayed.