Syria is a '10-year issue,' top general says July 8, 2013 -- Updated 0100 GMT (0900 HKT) U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said the United States faces "a 10-year issue" in Syria. Syria is a regional conflict where causes "will persist for 10 years," Dempsey says We need to understand what the peace will look like before we start the war Washington is weighing whether to arm Syrian rebels The administration is "going forward with a debate while events transpire," McCain says (CNN) -- The United States faces "a 10-year issue" in Syria as it weighs how deeply it wants to get involved the country's civil war, the top U.S. military officer warned in an interview that aired Sunday. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey told CNN's State of the Union that the conflict is entwined in a regional issue that is now spilling over into both Lebanon and Iraq, and those underlying causes "will persist for 10 years." "It is related -- not exclusively -- but related to a competition at best and a conflict at worse between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam, and it's been hijacked at some level on both sides by extremists -- al Qaeda on one side and Lebanese Hezbollah and others on the other side," said Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He added, "This is about a 10-year issue, and if we fail to think about it as a 10-year regional issue, we could make some mistakes." Syria's civil war began in early 2011, when the government of President Bashar al-Assad turned police and troops on anti-government demonstrations. The crackdown mushroomed into a conflict that has left more than more than 90,000 dead, according to the United Nations. The Obama administration announced in June that government troops had crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons against rebel forces, prompting it to increase what has so far been non-lethal aid to the opposition. The administration plans to send small arms, ammunition and potentially anti-tank weapons to Syria's rebels, officials familiar with the matter told CNN. Critics such as Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, call the response too little, too late. "As usual, on these issues, they're undecided and going forward with a debate while events transpire," McCain told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. There's no better example of that than Syria, as we continue to watch Hezbollah, thousands of fighters; we see Russian weapons pouring in, and slaughter of now over 100,000 people. And we're going to send them light weapons? Light weapons don't do well against tanks. But Dempsey,Obama's principal military adviser, told CNN the war in Syria is "not a simple matter of stopping the fight by the introduction of any particular U.S. capability." "It seems to me that we need to understand what the peace will look like before we start the war," he said. What complicates the question of military support for the opposition is that many of the rebel fighters are militants with pro-al Qaeda sympathies, the same stripe of militants America has battled in Iraq and Afghanistan. They include the al-Nusra Front, a rebel group that the United States says has links to al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the United States has been bolstering efforts to keep the conflict from spreading to Jordan, where an American military presence is quietly growing. And in discussions of the use of air power to enforce a "no-fly" zone, as was done in Libya's civil war in 2011, Dempsey has raised concerns about the need for clear objectives and a full understanding of the risks before acting. Syrian crisis June 17, 2013 -- Updated 1036 GMT (1836 HKT) Snipers are doing most of the fighting in one war-torn Damascus suburb in Syria. CNN's Fred Pleitgen finds that death can come any minute. June 14, 2013 -- Updated 2033 GMT (0433 HKT) The U.S. confirmed that Syria crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons in its war with rebel forces. June 14, 2013 -- Updated 2118 GMT (0518 HKT) The Syrian government condemns U.S. allegations that it used chemical weapons, as CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports. May 30, 2013 -- Updated 0036 GMT (0836 HKT) CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports on the desperation inside a Syrian town under siege and one doctor trying to make a difference. May 27, 2013 -- Updated 2308 GMT (0708 HKT) Mouaz Moustafa, who helped plan McCain's trip to Syria, discusses details of the trip with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. May 16, 2013 -- Updated 1737 GMT (0137 HKT) The horrifying video of a Syrian rebel leader apparently eating the heart of a dead government soldier caused a storm of disgust on social media. May 10, 2013 -- Updated 0944 GMT (1744 HKT) The conflict in Syria entered a new phase -- one that threatens to embroil its neighbors in a chaotic way. May 21, 2013 -- Updated 1129 GMT (1929 HKT) Exiled Syrian cartoonist, whose hands were broken in an attempt to end his craft, says pens have the power to topple dictators. Are you in Syria? Share your stories, videos and photos with the world on CNN iReport, but please stay safe.