As concerns grow about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria, the debate is shifting rapidly on Capitol Hill as top Democrats and Republicans urge President Barack Obama to do more to support the Syrian opposition -- even through military intervention.

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The latest example came late Thursday, when House Foreign Affairs ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) introduced a new bill calling on the Obama administration to arm the Syrian rebels.

Called the "Free Syria Act of 2013," the legislation calls for increased humanitarian and economic assistance to the Syrian opposition as well as arms, training, and intelligence support to vetted rebel groups that share Western values.

"President Assad's days are numbered as the situation in Syria goes from bad to worse. No longer can we watch as the world's worst humanitarian disaster unfolds before our very eyes," Engel told The Cable. "We are long past due to arm friendly rebels and turn the tide to allow for a more hopeful Syrian future. Ridding Syria of Assad will provide a strategic setback to Iran, which uses Syria as a pass-through to prop up their terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon."

The Engel-Rogers bill, which is also sponsored by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), would set up a framework under which the Obama administration could deploy anti-aircraft systems to help the rebels fight off the Syrian regime's attacks from above, allow the administration to push forward with a program to seek out and destroy Syria's chemical and biological weapons stockpiles, and assist a post-Assad transition by using sanctions relief and loans from international financial institutions to support a new transitional government.

"The United States has special capabilities that should be used to help facilitate and prepare for a post-Assad transition," Rogers told The Cable. "As the Assad regime deteriorates and loses control, the chaos created will create a serious humanitarian crisis. This slow-motion nightmare will quickly turn into a fast paced reality for thousands. The transition will undoubtedly be turbulent and painful, which is why we must prepare immediately."

Engel and Rogers are only the latest bipartisan duo to join forces on Syria. Earlier Thursday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) teamed up with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in a letter calling on Obama to use airstrikes to attack Assad's military power and then establish a "safe zone" inside Syria.

"We believe there are credible options at your disposal, including limited military options, that would require neither putting U.S. troops on the ground nor acting unilaterally," Levin and McCain wrote. "First, we urge you to lead an effort, together with our friends and allies, to degrade the Assad regime's airpower and to support Turkey if they are willing to establish a safe zone inside of Syria's northern border."

In a March 19 interview with The Cable, Levin explained that Patriot missile batteries currently deployed in Turkey could be used to shoot down Syrian regime aircraft in a 20-mile safe zone along the Syrian-Turkish border.

"You could protect that kind of a zone with these Patriot missiles, leaving the missiles in Turkey but having the zone inside the Syrian border," he said. "It is a way without putting boots on the ground and in a way that would be fairly cautious, that would put additional pressure on Assad and also create a zone where Syrian people who are looking for protection and safety could come without crossing the border and becoming refugees."

Levin and McCain also urged Obama to increase humanitarian support for the opposition. That call was at the heart of a new bill introduced March 19 by yet another bipartisan team of lawmakers, Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Bob Casey (D-PA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), called the "Syria Democratic Transition Act of 2013."

"In Syria, we have a terrible humanitarian crisis that is strengthening Iran's influence and giving Islamist terrorists a chance to seize power after Assad is gone," Rubio said in a press conference.

"The killing and destruction has gone on too long, and we need to renew our efforts to support the Syrian people and opposition," said Casey.

After traveling with U.S. President Barack Obama to Jordan, Secretary of State John Kerry will return to Israel and have a one-on-one meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

Kerry had not been scheduled to return to Israel after traveling to Jordan with Obama Friday, but will now return to Tel Aviv on Saturday, a senior State Department official said. Obama will not be part of that meeting as he is expected to return to Washington Saturday after meeting Jordanian King Abdullah II and visiting Petra, the ancient Nabatean site made famous by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

"Secretary Kerry will likely meet Prime Minister Netanyahu on Saturday to review the results of the president's visit following his stops in Ramallah and Amman, and to discuss next steps on the key issues," the senior State Department official said.

The new stop for Kerry has sparked speculation in diplomatic circles that the secretary might try to reestablish  a process by which Jordan would host talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Jordan hosted two sets of those talks in 2012, one in January that was well reported and another in the summer that was revealed this week.

Israel's Ambassador Michael Oren mentioned the previously undisclosed second set of Israeli-Palestinian talks in a March 19 op-ed in the LA Times.

"Just last summer, nearly 20 years after Jordan signed its own treaty with Israel, King Abdullah II hosted an effort to resume direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians," Oren wrote. "Regrettably, the Palestinian Authority walked away."

The State Department declined to comment on the possibility of a new round of Jordan hosted talks.

The U.S. government is scrambling to collect information on not one but two deadly events in Syria that opposition forces claim were chemical attacks perpetrated by the regime, two administration officials confirmed to The Cable.

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Leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and their advocates in Washington claim to have identified the chemical agent used in what they say were two Scud-like missile attacks launched by the Syrian regime against civilians on March 19. The Syrian Support Group (SSG), the only American organization licensed by the U.S. government to send money directly to the FSA, issued a press release Wednesday claiming the gas that killed civilians in separate events near Damascus and Aleppo was Echothiophate, a chemical agent simulant found in insecticides.

Echothiophate is not technically a chemical weapon but causes similar effects in victims, including muscle, nerve, and respiratory damage resulting in death if not treated quickly.

Several administration officials told The Cable that the U.S government does not yet know what caused the deaths in Damascus and Aleppo, but administrations officials did confirm that the two incidents seem to be related and are both part of an ongoing inquiry. The Cable is not able to independently confirm the FSA and SSG claims.

"Because we cannot yet state with certainty that chemical weapons have been used in the last days, I cannot tell you what happened," Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said Wednesday. "I can tell you that we have a large team of people working on it right now."

The SSG said that doctors who treated the initials victims from a Scud-like missile attack in the al-Oteiba neighborhood near the Damascus International Airport confirmed the chemical was Echothiophate and that the doctors had treated the victims with Atropine and other drugs. The FSA claims that there were 60-70 victims of this particular attack.

The second apparent Scud attack was launched from Damascus toward Aleppo, but due to what was assumed to be mechanical problems, the missile fell short of its target and landed one kilometer from the Infantry Training Academy in Khan Asal in the western Aleppo suburbs, in an area occupied by regime forces and civilian regime supporters, FSA leaders told the SSG. Sixteen people were killed immediately, and an unknown number of poisoned people were taken to the Aleppo University Hospital, which is in the hands of the regime, according to FSA reports.

"FSA forces are not in possession of delivery systems capable of carrying chemical warheads," the SSG said in its press release.

In his speech before a crowd of Israeli university students in Jerusalem Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama again stated that any use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would have dire consequences, but declined to specify what any of those consequences might be.

"I've made it clear to Bashar al-Assad and all who follow his orders: We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists," Obama said. "The world is watching. We will hold you accountable."

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice welcomed Thursday U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's announcement that the U.N. would conduct its own inquiry into the incidents.

"The United States supports an investigation that pursues any and all credible allegations of the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria, and underscores the importance of launching this investigation as swiftly as possible," she said. 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Republican Bob Corker (R-TN) Wednesday added his name to the growing list of senators who want to change the law to boost congressional oversight of drone strikes and targeted killings by the U.S. government. 

Corker called for Congress to update the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) at a Wednesday hearing and said that he wants the SFRC to take the lead on revising the law that was passed in the wake of the original 9/11 attacks. He prodded SFRC Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to hold a hearing on the issue and consider marking up legislation in their committee.

"For far too long, Congress has failed to fully exercise its constitutional responsibility to authorize the use of military force, including in the current struggle against al Qaeda, so I urge the committee to consider updating current antiterrorism authorities to adapt to threats that did not exist in 2001 and to better protect our nation while upholding our morals and values," Corker said. 

Congress should amend the law to specify exactly how and when the president can use drones and kill or capture missions to kill people and Congress must "restore the appropriate balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of government while maintaining flexibility for the president to respond swiftly under threat of attack," Corker said.

Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center under both presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, urged the committee to revise the 2001 AUMF in testimony before the committee. 

With the continued evolution of the terror threat and most notably its increasing distance from the 9/11 attacks and core al Qaeda, I believe it is the time to re-evaluate the AUMF to better fit today's threat landscape," Leiter said.

Former Bush administration senior counterterrorism official Kenneth L. Wainstein also testified that congressional oversight and transparency were necessary to bring legitimacy to the covert programs. 

"Congressional action has provided one other very important element to our counterterrorism initiatives -- a measure of political legitimacy that could never be achieved through unilateral executive action," he said. "That legitimizing effect -- and its continuation through meaningful oversight -- is critical to maintaining the public's confidence in the means and methods our government uses in its fight against international terrorism."

Wednesday's hearing was a follow-up to a classified hearing on counterterrorism last week that included testimony from Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matt Olsen. 

The issue of using military force to kill Americans on U.S. soil was front and center in Congress earlier this month and featured both in Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's March 6 filibuster of CIA Director John Brennan and a March 6 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee with Eric Holder, during which the attorney general said clearly that the targeting of Americans for killing on U.S. soil, in absence of an immediate threat, would be unlawful.

Corker's Wednesday announcement included an assertion that the SFRC, not the Judiciary Committee, has "exclusive jurisdiction" over any efforts to change the AUMF.

Following the latest alleged used of chemical weapons in Aleppo, the head of the Syrian opposition coalition's new Washington office called on U.S. President Barack Obama to step up his actions in Syria.

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The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is testing and now crossing Obama's red lines, Najib Ghadbian, the special representative to the United States from the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, said in an exclusive interview Wednesday with The Cable.

A lack of a firm U.S. response will only provoke Assad to further escalate his use of weapons of mass destruction, Ghadbian said.

"There's a lack of leadership on the part of the Obama administration. It's really the credibility of the Obama administration on the line," he said. "Some kind of response is a must. The international community is failing to take seriously its responsibility to protect civilians. If there's no response, it's really a license for escalation." 

Speaking from Istanbul, Ghadbian said that he and other Syrian opposition leaders have been in direct contact with doctors on the ground in Aleppo, and that the opposition leadership has collected "strong evidence" that the 25 deaths following what rebels say was a rocket attack Tuesday was caused by a limited use of chemical weapons.

"We started getting the reports from Aleppo from the hospitals that people were suffering the effects of some type of nerve gas," he said. "Two hours later there was a confirmation that there was a chemical weapon....Confirmation came from the hospitals where the patients and victims were treated."

The Syrian regime has claimed that it was the rebels used chemical weapons; Ghadbian said that was "too ridiculous" to warrant a response.

He said he hoped the international community would do its own independent investigation into the attack and then respond forcefully to send a message to Assad that this type of attack won't be tolerated.

"Where is the international community? This is clearly violating the red line. We haven't seen a strong reaction yet," he said. "This was defined as the red line and there was a clear warning against the use of chemical weapons. We need action."

Speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, President Obama said that he was waiting for the results of his administrations' investigations into the incident, acknowledging that the use of chemical weapons would be a "game-changer" for U.S. policy and noting that some in the Syrian government had expressed willingness to use such weapons. He also cast doubt on the Syrian regime's claim that the opposition was behind the alleged attack.

Ghadbian said the regime was testing the international community by using chemical weapons in a limited way and waiting to see if there was any consequence for violating Obama's red line. He asked for the United States to bring the issue before various international bodies, including the United Nations Security Council.

At a Wednesday hearing of the House Foreign Affair Committee, Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said, "so far we have no evidence to substantiate the report that chemical weapons were used yesterday. But I want to underline that we are looking very carefully at these reports. We are consulting with partners in the region and in the international community."

Ford reiterated Obama's pledge that if Assad or those under his command used chemical weapons, there would be consequences and they would be held accountable. But he declined to specify what any of those consequences might be.

"I really do not want to speculate here about hypothetical situations. What I do want to underline is that the president has said there will be consequences and that we will seek strongly that the people who use chemical weapons be held accountable. Exactly what those consequences would do today, I cannot speculate on," Ford said.

On Tuesday, the Syrian opposition coalition also set up an interim government to exert executive power in the liberated areas inside Syria, to be led by interim Prime Minister Gassan Hitto, an American citizen who has lived most of his life in Texas. Ghadbian said that step was necessary to help the opposition provide Syrians in rebel-controlled areas with basic services and prepare in case of a sudden regime collapse.

The Obama administration had encouraged the Syrian opposition coalition not to set up an interim government at this time, Ghadbian acknowledged. Ford told coalition president Muaz al-Khatib that the establishment of an interim government carried the risk of further complicating the opposition's governing structure and making opposition unity harder to achieve.

"The State Department communicated to us their preference and we took that into consideration but made our decision to move forward," Ghadbian said.

Ghadbian also said the Obama administration is concerned that the establishment of an interim government could complicate efforts to establish negotiations with the regime in pursuit of a political solution to the crisis, which is the Obama administration's goal.

"We are not doing this to sabotage the attempt for a political settlement. We are talking about an interim government, not a transitional government," he said. "Assad is not the kind of person who is going to agree to any kind of political settlement that keeps him in power."

Despite opposing the formation of the interim government initially, Ford said Wednesday that he is now in favor of the move.

"Let me note here that the election of Ghassan Hito as prime minister for the coalition is a step forward, and we look forward to working with him and with the opposition coalition president, Muaz al-Khatib, in the weeks ahead," he testified.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) endorsed Tuesday the idea of establishing a no-fly zone inside Syria and attacking the air defenses and air power of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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Levin chaired a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday morning during which he asked Adm. James Stavridis, the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, if NATO was discussing attacking Assad's air defenses. Stavridis acknowledged the idea was under discussion but said there was no unified NATO position on the issue.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) then asked Stavridis if NATO is doing contingency planning for military operations inside Syria.

"We are looking at a wide range of operations, and we are prepared, if called upon, to be engaged as we were in Libya," Stavridis replied.

Stavridis said that the NATO Patriot missile batteries currently deployed in Turkey have the capability to shoot down Syrian military aircraft in a radius of 20 miles. McCain pressed Stavridis to give his personal opinion as to whether or not establishing a Patriot battery-enforced no-fly zone in northern Syria would speed the end of the conflict.

"My personal opinion is that would be helpful in breaking the deadlock and bringing down the Assad regime," Stavridis said.

After the hearing, Levin directly endorsed the idea of attacking Syrian air defenses and using the Patriot missile batteries in Turkey to establish a no-fly zone inside Syria in an interview with The Cable.

"I believe there should be the next ratcheting up of military effort and that would include going after some of Syria's air defenses," Levin said.

Regarding the establishment of a no-fly zone inside Syria, Levin said that would help both protect innocent civilians and speed the end of the conflict.

"You could protect that kind of a zone with these Patriot missiles, leaving the missiles in Turkey but having the zone inside the Syrian border," he said. "It is a way without putting boots on the ground and in a way that would be fairly cautious, that would put additional pressure on Assad and also create a zone where Syrian people who are looking for protection and safety could come without crossing the border and becoming refugees."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Tuesday called for the United States to put boots on the ground in Syria to secure chemical weapons sites, in light of new allegations that chemical weapons were used in Aleppo province.

Levin said it might come to that at some point and that the U.S. military should be prepared.

"We have to have that option," he said. "If [chemical weapons] are going to run free and fall into the hands of terrorists, we have to have some option of securing those, particularly if there's going to be a disintegration in Syria."

In the face of new reports alleging chemical weapons use in Syria, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called Tuesday for the United States to put American troops inside Syria to secure the WMD sites there.

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The Syrian regime and the Syrian rebels have each accused the other of using chemical weapons in a rocket attack in Aleppo province that killed at least 25 people. A Reuters photographer at a hospital receiving victims of the attack relayed that victims "said that people were suffocating in the streets and the air smelt strongly of chlorine." The Russian Foreign Ministry immediately backed the regime's claim that the rebels had used chemical weapons.

Graham told The Cable in an interview Tuesday that whether or not the attack can be confirmed as the first use of chemical weapons in the 24-month Syrian civil war, the United States must devise and implement a plan to secure Syrian chemical weapons sites and deploy U.S. troops to do it if necessary.

"My biggest fear beyond an Iranian nuclear weapons capability is the chemical weapons in Syria falling in the hands of extremists and Americans need to lead on this issue. We need to come up with a plan to secure these weapons sites, either in conjunction with our partners [or] if nothing else by ourselves," Graham said.

Asked if he would support sending U.S. troops inside Syria for the mission, Graham said yes.

"Absolutely, you've got to get on the ground. There is no substitute for securing these weapons," he said. "I don't care what it takes. We need partners in the region. But I'm here to say, if the choice is to send in troops to secure the weapons sites versus allowing chemical weapons to get in the hands of some of the most violent people in the world, I vote to cut this off before it becomes a problem."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that the U.S. government is still evaluating the intelligence from Syria, but downplayed the regime's accusation.

"We have no evidence to substantiate the charge that the opposition has used chemical weapons. We are deeply skeptical of a regime that has lost all credibility. And we would also warn the regime against making these kinds of charges as any kind of pretext or cover for its use of chemical weapons," Carney said.

"We are evaluating the charges that are being made and the allegations, consulting closely with our partners, in the region and in the international community," he added.

President Barack Obama has said that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a red line for the United States, but Carney refused to say what the administration would do if the use of chemical weapons was confirmed.

"I wouldn't care to speculate about what consequences would take place if it were to be found that the regime had used chemical weapons," Carney said. "But on the general principle, the president made very clear that the use of chemical weapons, and I quote, ‘is and would be totally unacceptable.' And he warned the Syrian regime in particular that ‘there will be consequences, and you will be held accountable.'"

Graham said that regardless of whether chemicals weapons use in Syria can be confirmed, the United States needs to step up its contingency planning for such an event and proactively implement a strategy to secure the sites now.

"I can confirm the fact that the chemical weapons are all over Syria and if somebody doesn't plan how to secure these weapons they are going to work their way back to the U.S. and around the world, that I can promise you," he said. "If there was a chemical weapons attack today, that is a change in the conducting of the war and it should remind us what's available in Syria and what would we risk as a nation if these weapons fall into the wrong hands. And they are going to and somebody has to do something about it and that somebody has to be us."

The Obama administration is getting close to nominating a new special envoy to Sudan, but a major Sudan advocacy organization is asking Secretary of State John Kerry not to nominate former U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Tim Carney.

The advocacy group's effort to squash the Carney nomination before it even exists is rare; NGOs usually wait until someone is nominated before they express public opposition. But in this case, Act for Sudan is hoping to head off the Carney pick before it materializes.

The Washington-based group's action reflects a broader ongoing frustration with the administration's Sudan policy and the enduring legacy of Obama's first Sudan envoy, Scott Gration, who clashed with advocates who saw him as too solicitous of the regime in Khartoum.

Informed sources tell The Cable that Carney is one of two finalists being considered to replace Princeton Lyman, the special envoy who followed Gration. The other finalist is former Ambassador to Indonesia Cameron Hume.

"It has come to our attention that former U.S. Ambassador to Sudan, Timothy Carney, is being considered for the position of Special Envoy," Act for Sudan wrote in a March 19 letter to Kerry.  "While Ambassador Carney has experience in Sudan, we are concerned that his publicly stated advice and guidance with regard to U.S. policy on Sudan will prolong the suffering of the Sudanese people and will undermine U.S. objectives to support a just peace and stable democracies in Sudan and South Sudan, which ultimately are in the best interest of the U.S. and the international community."

Act for Sudan referenced a February 2009 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, chaired by Kerry, where Carney argued for several measures that the group feels would reward and benefit Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Carney proposed deferring the ICC warrant, sending an ambassador to Khartoum and removing Sudan from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. He opposed efforts to isolate Bashir.

Kerry said at the same hearing that "the players in Darfur, the South and the North all understand that there is going to be a very different effort to galvanize action over the course of the next months and year and this is a moment for serious people to buckle down and find some serious responses."

Hume, before serving as ambassador to Indonesia, also held diplomatic posts in Italy, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, the United Nations, and the Holy See. More recently he has served as ambassador to Algeria and to South Africa, and as chargé d'affaires to Sudan.

Last December, a coalition of Sudan advocacy groups wrote to President Barack Obama to ask him to take several additional steps to combat the ongoing violence in Sudan.

"Given the serious human rights violations and national security concerns the U.S. has with regard to Sudan and given the opportunity for positive democratic change that is developing among Sudanese opposition groups and civil society, the new Special Envoy should reflect a more robust policy," Act for Sudan wrote Monday. "We strongly believe that Ambassador Carney is the wrong man for this critical job.  Instead, we hope that you will choose someone with the capabilities, perspective and stature of Russ Feingold, Richard Williamson, Howard Berman, or Tom Periello, to name a few."