The U.S. House of Representatives began debating legislation on Tuesday to authorize President Barack Obama's plan to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State militants, and lawmakers said the measure would likely pass the full Congress by the end of this week.
House Republican leaders unveiled the authorization on Monday as an amendment to a stopgap funding bill Congress must pass this month, after Obama asked lawmakers to approve the training as part of his broader plan to stop the Sunni militants who have taken over swaths of Syria and Iraq.
House members were expected to vote to pass the amendment on Wednesday, congressional aides and lawmakers said. It would then be sent to the U.S. Senate for approval this week, before lawmakers leave Washington to spend the next six weeks campaigning for the Nov. 4 congressional elections.
The Senate, which is controlled by Obama's fellow Democrats, is expected to approve the amendment.
House Speaker John Boehner said he considered Obama's request a "sound one" and that he saw no reason for Congress not to authorize it, although he did not think Obama's larger plan to stop Islamic State was strong enough.
"If our goal here is to destroy ISIL, we've got to do more than train a few folks in Syria and train a few folks in Iraq and drop some bombs," Boehner told reporters after a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, using an alternative abbreviation for the Islamic State group.
Earlier on Tuesday, United Nations war crimes investigators for Syria said world powers preparing military action against
Islamic State fighters must respect the rules of war requiring them to protect civilians and be proportionate in their strikes.
The U.S. military struck an Islamic State target southwest of Baghdad, U.S. Central Command said on Monday, in an expansion of the Obama administration's campaign against the group that has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
"As military action on ISIS positions seems increasingly likely, we remind all parties that they must abide by the laws of war and most particularly, the principles of distinction and proportionality. Serious efforts must be made to preserve civilian life," Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. commission of inquiry, said in a statement to the Human Rights Council.
The United States is stepping up its military response to the hardline group, which has beheaded several Western hostages and seeks to expand the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.
REUTERS