Just two weeks later, McCain quietly traveled to Syria, and his office distributed photos from his visit to news organizations. One image, in particular, has generated some unexpected attention.

Senator John McCain's office is pushing back against reports that while visiting Syria this week he posed in a photo with rebels who kidnapped 11 Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims.

The photo, released by McCain's office, shows McCain with a group of rebels. Among them are two men identified in the Lebanese press as Mohamed Nour and Abu Ibrahim, two of the kidnappers of the group from Lebanon.

McCain's office insists the senator was not aware that he'd met with Nour and Ibrahim -- if they are, in fact, the men in the photograph -- and they had not been identified as such during his trip. The spokesperson added that if McCain had unknowingly met with kidnappers, "that is regrettable."