The resolution passed by a vote of 10-7 , with one senator voting “present”.

The vote by the panel clears the way for a vote on the resolution in the full Senate, most likely next week, according to Reuters.

“We have high confidence that Syria used, in an indiscriminate fashion, chemical weapons that killed thousands of people, including over 400 children, and in direct violation of the international norm against using chemical weapons. That poses a serious national security threat to the United States and to the region, and as a consequence, Assad and Syria needs to be held accountable,” US president Barack Obama said in a statement before meeting with members of Congress on Syria.

“I’ve made a decision that America should take action. But I also believe that we will be much more effective, we will be stronger, if we take action together as one nation,” he added.

The resolution would authorize President Barack Obama to order a limited military operation on Syria that wouldn’t exceed 90 days and involve American troops on the ground, Al Arabiya reported.

Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency and senior Government ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey – countries which together host more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees – called today on the international community to “overcome differences” to stop the fighting in Syria, as the made an urgent appeal for expanded assistance to the region.

“We are facing the dramatic escalation of the Syrian conflict, namely with the use of chemical weapons,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in an agreed statement with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Wael Abu Faour and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

“A political solution to end this cycle of horror is “urgently needed,” Mr. Guterres and the ministers said: “There is no humanitarian solution to the Syrian crisis; rather there needs to be a political solution that ends the humanitarian crisis.”

The joint statement follows a half-day meeting chaired by Mr. Guterres with representatives of the four countries that host the majority of the 2 million refugees who have fled Syria since March 2011. And additional 4.25 million people are displaced within Syria, according to UN figures.

UNHCR and its partners in June appealed to donors for $4.4 billion for Syria relief operations this year, including $3 billion to meet humanitarian and host community needs in the immediate surrounding region. About 40 per cent of this component has been funded.

The coalition’s leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib announced Monday on Facebook that his group will now attend the Friends of Syria meeting after consultations with its members and others, as well as based on remarks by senior diplomats from the United States and the UK.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in remarks in Berlin today that Syrian rebels should be given aid if President Bashar al- Assad refuses to join talks and goes on killing his own people.

Initially, the Syrian National Coalition threatened to boycott the Friends of Syria meeting to protest what it sees as a lack of effective action from the international community.

For his part, Syria’s foreign minister has said that his government is ready to hold talks with all parties, including armed rebels who want dialogue to end the crisis in the country .

Walid al-Muallem made the comments on Monday in Moscow before talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

The unrest began in March 2011, when al-Assad’s government began a brutal crackdown on protesters calling for the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad.

The protest movement eventually evolved into an armed conflict, one that has cost the lives of more than 70,000 Syrians to flee to neighboring nations, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.

Over an eight-week period from mid-December, 255,000 Syrians fled their country. Out of the 860,000 refugee total, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey are together sheltering 97 per cent of them.

Humanitarian agencies are trying to keep up with the rising needs. The World Food Programme is scaling up to meet the needs of 2.5 million people by April.

“The number of deaths has risen to 42 Syrians, who were killed by the bombed car explosion near the regime forces’ checkpoint in the Mazraa district, near the ruling Baath party headquarters,” Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported.

Most of casualties were civilians from the area and drivers of cars passing by.

The number of deaths is likely to rise because of the tens of injured civilians, some of which are in critical states, SOHR added.

Television footage showed at least four bodies scattered across the street after the blast, which official state media SANA described as a terrorist attack.

The windows of Russia’s embassy in Damascus were blown out by the deadly blast but none of its staff were hurt, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia is one of the few big powers to keep ties with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad amid the conflict with rebels.

The explosion comes amid reports of fierce clashes over the past few days between the opposition and regime forces around Damascus, with rebels trying to make advances in the city.

Also, the head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Nayef Hawatmeh, was lightly injured in Thursday’s explosion, a DFLP official Khalid Atta told Maan news agency.

Atta said the bomb had not targeted the DFLP office, which was damaged in the attack.

Palestinian ambassador to Syria Mahmud al-Khadi said the explosion also damaged the Palestinian embassy in Damascus, Maan reported.

More than 70,000 people across the country have died, according to the United Nations since the beginning of the two-year conflict in Syria.

Thursday’s blast, was followed by at least three other explosions elsewhere in Damascus, according to activists.

At this point it must be noted that the rule of Assads, Bashar now and his father before him, has been built on the Alawite Moslem minority of their country, a more secular version of Islam. In neighbouring regions of Turkey and along the Aegean Sea coastal areas of this last country, Alawites are estimated at anything between 15 and 20 million people. Ankara, backed Assad at the beginning of this civil war nit has turned now against him, aligning with the West.

The Assad regime of Damascus has strong allies in the Lebanon Alawites, practically also at war with their fellow countrymen Sunni Muslims. Assad has also traditional friendly relations and strong backings from Moscow and Tehran. Russia has dispatched to Syria a long time ago large numbers of civilians estimated at 70,000 people, working in various infrastructure projects, plus an unknown number of military “experts”.

Obviously Israel in against the Assad regime in Syria and backs on the spot together with Turkey the opposition fighters, who now control a good part of the land. In Syria lives also a population of 2 million Kurds always at odds with Ankara, because they back the Turkey’s PKK Kurd rebels not very actively engaged in either part of the ongoing civil war in Syria.

In short what is happening in Syria at this moment is a small sample book of the entire Middle East conflicts, engaging Sunnis against Shia and Alawite Muslims, Kurds of Turkey, Syria and Iraq fighting for their own self-rule, Israel in direct conflict with Iran and the West and Russia in acute confrontation about the future of Syria.

The future of the North Iraq semi-independent Kurdish state is also at stake, with the Americans having there a close ally. If the Syrian civil war finds the Sunnis victorious, Russia will lose its strong hold in the region. This is rather impossible however because the Syrian Alawites led by Assad are a good 15% of the population and will never surrender their future to the Sunni majority. For them it will be war to the last man and Assad now appeared ready to take care of that.

In total the appalling next day after the disintegration of the Gaddafi regime in Libya is a guide of the future developments in Syria and all along the wider region from Teheran to Tell Aviv and from Ankara to the Persian Gulf in the South. A total destruction of whatever social tissues existed in this region.

A good prognosis though should take into account that populations of millions cannot be totally exterminated and will continue to control the ground on which they have been living for centuries. What happens now in Libya is a good example of what may happen in Syria. No faction will be in absolute control and there will be no centrally control state, in the sense we know in the west. Armed militias will continue to exist and rule on the ground, being in continuous skirmishes with each other and the big powers like the US and Russia controlling small enclaves which are vital for their interests.

It remains to be seen if the Americans will forced to recognise that there will be no end to the conflict without Russia accepting it. In short this means that the US and their European allies in Paris and London, would be obliged to come to terms with the prospect of a strong Russian presence in the Middle East.

The last offer by Moscow for a truce in Syria between the Assad regime and the opposition fighters was very clear of what the outcome may be. Russia apparently does not consider a solution without Assad playing a central role in it. And this may mean a continuation of fight.

By George Pepper, Europeansting.com (by permission)

The head of the Federal Intelligence Service, Gerhard Schindler, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper in an interview made public on Saturday that the Syrian conflict is reaching its final stage. 

”Signs are increasing that the regime in Damascus is in its final phase,” Schindler told the newspaper.

“Armed rebels are coordinating better, which is making their fight against Assad more effective,” he added.

As fighting between rebels and government forces rages Syrian rebels on Sunday seized control of a sector of Sheikh Suleiman base west of Aleppo, bringing them closer to holding a large strip of territory extending to the Turkish border in the north. The rebels took control of Regiment 111 and three other company posts located inside the base after fierce fighting overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rebels also declared Damascus International Airport a battle zone on Friday.

Meanwhile, Syria told the UN it would never use chemical weapons on its people, warning that ‘terrorist groups’ may resort to such weapons in the ongoing turmoil in the country.

“Terrorist groups may resort to using chemical weapons against the Syrian people… after having gained control of a toxic chlorine factory,” the foreign ministry said Saturday.

The comment follows accusations by Britain and the US that there is evidence that Syria is preparing to use chemical weapons.

Mr Hague told the BBC there was “enough evidence to know that they need a warning”.

That statement followed a warning on Monday from US President Barack Obama that there would be consequences if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his people.

“I think that the cost of a foreign invasion of Syria – if it happens – would be bigger than the entire world can bear … this will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific,” he said.

Earlier this week, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Mr Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country in order to end the nation’s crisis.

But appearing on the Russian Arabic-language channel Russia Today, Mr Assad said “I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country,” he said. “I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria,”

It was not clear where the interview took place. The full interview will be broadcast on Friday, the TV station said.

Russia has remained one of Syria’s most loyal allies, protecting Damascus from international action at the United Nations Security Council.

Assad’s remarks coincided with a meeting in Qatar on Thursday of Syria’s fractious opposition to hammer out an agreement on a new umbrella body uniting rebel groups inside and outside Syria amid growing international pressure to form a more cohesive and representative opposition.

The Syrian National Council’s general assembly of some 420 members chose a 40-member leadership body after hours of voting at a conference held at a hotel in the Qatari capital of Doha, according to Reuters. The 40-member group is to choose an 11-member executive body and an SNC president later Thursday.

Meanwhile, two civilians, a woman and a young man, in Turkey’s Hatay border province were wounded by stray bullets fired from Syria, according to a Turkish official. According to the same source, Ankara has officially requested that NATO deploy Patriot missiles along the border with Syria, over fears that armed conflict could spill across the border.

Cameron made the comments on Tuesday in a television interview on Al Arabiya while visiting the United Arab Emirates before flying to Saudi Arabia.

“I am certainly not offering him an exit plan to Britain, but if he wants to leave, he could leave, that could be arranged,” Cameron told Al Arabiya television.

The British Foreign Office later clarified that London was not making Assad an offer. “We have been clear that Assad should face justice and that it is for the Syrian people, including the opposition, to decide the details of a transition including the options for Assad. The longer the killing goes on, the fewer options Assad will have,” according to a statement by the Foreign office.

Yet Cameron’s comments drew immediate criticism from rights group Amnesty International which condemned the prime minister’s suggestion for an ‘exit plan’

Amnesty International UK Syria campaign manager Kristyan Benedict said: “Instead of talking about immunity deals for President Assad, David Cameron should be supporting efforts to ensure that he faces justice, ideally at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

“After Syrian government forces have indulged in a massive campaign of indiscriminate bombings, mass round-ups and torture, there should be no question of Bashar al-Assad escaping justice with a cosy deal of this kind,” she added.

A failed ceasefire bid, new reports of atrocities, an increase in the number of car bombings and a still-dire humanitarian situation mark some of the highlights since Mr. Brahimi’s briefing of the Council two weeks ago, the political affairs chief noted in his comments.

Meanwhile, battles between government forces and rebels continued on the ground, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rgihts reporting more than 1200 deaths on Tuesday.

Bombs exploded in several districts of the capital, Damascus, and the state news agency said gunmen killed the brother of the parliament speaker while he drove to work in the city.

Mohammed Osama Laham, brother of Jihad Laham, was killed in the Damascus neighbourhood of Midan, SANA reported.

The attack was the latest in a wave of assassinations targeting Syrian officials, army officers and other prominent supporters of Assad’s regime.

“We are sorry that the Arab League has descended to this level concerning a member state of this institution,” he said. “This decision only concerns the Syrian people, who are the sole masters of fate of their governments,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jihad Makdissi said at a media conference on Monday, according to AFP.

“If the Arab nations who met in Doha were honest about wanting to stop the bloodshed they would have stopped supplying arms… they would stop their instigation and propaganda,” he said. “All their statements are hypocritical.”

The Arab League on Monday called on Assad to swiftly give up his powers in order to end the fighting that has swept across the country. A day earlier, the Arab League also urged the rebel Free Syrian Army to form a transitional government of national unity.

“We call on the opposition and the Free Syrian Army to form a government of national unity,” Sheikh Hamad said as he delivered the results of the Arab League meeting.

Meanwhile, a statement by the Foreign Ministry on Monday stressed that Syria’s stance that any chemical or biological weapons will never ever be used during the crisis in Syria notwithstanding the developments inside the country.

A statement by the Ministry, read by spokesman Dr. Jihad Makdissi in a press conference, said that such weapons stocks are secured and directly monitored by the Syrian Armed Forces and would only be used in the case of external aggression on the country,

The statement came as Syrian troops commanded by the brother of President Bashar al-Assad and backed by helicopter gunships have driven rebel fighters out of a district of Damascus a week after the insurgents launched a major assault on the capital, Al Jazeera reported.

Clashes between government focres and rebels have intesified since rebels brought their battle to overthrow Assad to the capital and killed four of the president’s regime members in a bomb attack on a meeting of senior security officials last Wednesday.

Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Assad as saying: “We learned that it (the plane) belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 percent ‘if only we had not shot it down’.

“The plane was flying in an air corridor used three times in the past by the Israeli airforce,” he told Cumhuriyet in an interview published on Tuesday.

“Of course I might have been happy if this had been an Israeli plane,” Assad said.

He added that “We will not allow (the tensions) to turn into open combat between the two countries.

He also said Syria had not amassed and would not amass military forces along the Turkish border, whatever action Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s government takes.

Turkey hasdeployed military hardware along its southern border since Syria shot down the Turkish jet on June 22, escalating tensions between the two countries.

Syria says it shot down the Turkish jet in self-defense and that it was brought down in Syrian air space.

But Turkey says that although the jet had violated Syria’s airspace, it was in international airspace when it was shot down.

Erdogan said Syria shot down the unarmed plane in international airspace in a “hostile” act and without warning.

Assad sent his condolences to the families of the two pilots of the downed plane, who have not been found.

“If this plane had been shot down in international airspace (as maintained by Ankara) we would not have hesitated to apologise,” he said.

“In my view, both Government forces and armed opponents have been involved in actions harming civilians,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told reporters after a closed-door briefing to the Council.

“Those responsible for attacks against civilians must be held accountable, and so I reiterated my call on the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court as I believe that the evidence points to the commission of crimes against humanity,” she stated.

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 16 months ago.

“Ending the conflict is what we all seek,” said Ms. Pillay, whose office (OHCHR) and the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria – appointed by the UN Human Rights Council – have documented serious human rights violations by both Government and opposition forces.

The High Commissioner’s briefing comes a day after the Action Group on Syria, which met in Geneva under the auspices of the Joint Special Envoy for the UN and the League of Arab States on Syria, Kofi Annan, agreed on a set of principles and guidelines for a Syrian-led transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people.

This includes the establishment of a transitional governing body that would exercise full executive powers and that would be made up by members of the present Government and the opposition and other groups.

The Group also called for all parties to immediately re-commit to a sustained cessation of armed violence, to fully cooperate with the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), and to implement the six-point plan put forward by Mr. Annan without waiting for the actions of others.

Ms. Pillay stressed that any solution to the conflict must adequately address the root causes of the conflict, namely the human rights grievances.

“I welcome the Action Group’s plan and hope that it will rapidly pave the way for a genuinely democratic and inclusive State with full respect for human rights and the rule of law.”

She also stated that the presence of UNSMIS in the country remains “vital,” and that she urged the Security Council to support and strengthen its mandate to enable it to effectively monitor and report on the human rights situation in Syria.