US Senate Panel Approves Strike Against Syria

The United States Senate-foreign relations committee has approved a resolution authorizing the use of force against the Syrian government of Bashar Al-Assad for its alleged use of chemical weapons.

With 10-7 votes, the committee on Wednesday approved the resolution, with one senator voting “present”. The vote by the panel clears the way for a vote on the resolution in the full Senate likely next week, Al jazeera.net reported on Thursday.

Kimberly Halkett of Al Jazeera.net reporting from Washington D.C., has said the approval was a boost for US president, Barack Obama, as he sought to gain congressional approval for the use of force.

However, Halkett added that the vote was delayed by about two hours, suggesting some disagreements. The full Senate vote could also prove problematic, she added, with John McCain, a leading Republican, who has said he could not vote for the resolution as it stood, as it did not go far enough.

Halkett reported McCain earlier said he wanted more than cruise missile strikes and other limited action and seeks a stronger response aimed at “reversing the momentum on the battlefield” and hastening Assad’s departure.

The Democratic chairman of the committee, Bob Menendez, and the panel’s top Republican, Bob Corker, drafted the resolution, which was significantly different to that which was tabled by the president, Al Jazeera.net said.

Reports said it would allow Obama to order a limited military mission against Syria, as long as it does not exceed 90 days and involves no US troops on the ground for combat operations.

Obama had asked the US Congress to sanction his plan to launch military strikes against Assad in response to its reported use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb on August 21.

Syrian President Al Assad has denied he is responsible for the attack, and instead placed the blame on the rebels fighting to topple his regime.

The US says the attack left over 1,400 people dead while aid groups said more than 300 were killed.

AL Jazeera.net reported the vote came after a more divided foreign relations committee of the House of Representatives heard evidence from the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, and secretary of state John Kerry.

Republican Congressman Ed Royce, the panel’s chairman, has chided Obama for drawing “a red line” on Assad’s use of chemical weapons long before bringing the debate on the use of military force in Syria to Congress, reports said.

“Over a year ago President Obama drew, in his words, a red line, yet only last week did the administration begin to consult with Congress on what that means,” said has Royce.

Al Jazeera.net added Congressman Eliot Engel, the ranking democratic member of the panel, firmly backed the Obama plan.

“I strongly agree with President Obama that the United States must respond to this flagrant violation of
international law with a limited military strike to deter the further use of chemical weapons and degrade the Assad regime’s ability to use them again,” said Engel.

Secretary of State John Kerry has pointed out that the said “red line” against chemical weapons was drawn by international law in 1925 – echoing comments made earlier by the president in Sweden, Al Jazeera.net report said.

Kerry reportedly said “This is about the world’s red line, it’s about humanity’s red line, a line that anyone with a conscience should draw and a line that was drawn nearly a hundred years ago in 1925 when the chemical weapons convention was agreed on,”

Source: Al Jazeera.net