WASHINGTON/AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S.
President Barack Obama's effort to win
legislative backing for military strikes
against Syria passed its first hurdle on
Wednesday when a Senate committee
voted in favor, but the narrow margin of
victory showed the depth of U.S. caution.
In a possible sign of internal unrest in
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ruling
Alawite sect in the shadow of a likely U.S.
intervention, Syrian opposition figures
said General Ali Habib, a former defense
minister, had defected. Syria denied the
report.
Washington and Syria's main backer,
Russia, remained publicly at odds as
Obama tried to build his case for military
action over chemical weapons before
flying to Russia for a G20 summit hosted
by President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
Putin said U.S. congressional approval
without a U.N. Security Council resolution
would be an act of aggression, and
accused U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
of lying by playing down the role of the
militant group al Qaeda with rebel forces.
With Obama focused on building
international support, administration
officials kept up their campaign of
persuasion in Congress, where deep U.S.
skepticism about going to war was
reflected in a House of Representatives
hearing.
Still, after much jockeying over the exact
wording, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee approved a resolution
authorizing the use of military force in
Syria in a vote that avoided party lines,
with Democrats and Republicans on both
sides. The action cleared the way for a
vote in the full Senate, likely next week.
The committee voted 10-7 in favor of a
compromise resolution that sets a 60-day
limit on any engagement in Syria, with a
possible 30-day extension, and bars the
use of U.S. troops on the ground for
combat operations.
The administration is trying to balance the
views of many in Congress who want a
narrowly defined resolution against hawks
such as Senator John McCain, who has
pushed for a broader resolution that
would allow direct U.S. support for
rebels.
The Senate committee adopted
amendments proposed by McCain with
policy goals of degrading Assad's ability to
use chemical weapons, increasing support
for rebel forces and reversing battlefield
momentum to create conditions for
Assad's removal.
The authorization still faces significant
resistance in Congress, where many
lawmakers fear it could lead to a
prolonged U.S. military involvement in
Syria's civil war and spark an escalation of
regional violence.
The full Senate is expected to vote on the
resolution next week. The House of
Representatives also must approve the
measure.
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