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 Syrian government announced late Sunday it had “purged” the district of Salahhedine and inflicted “great losses” upon the rebels — , according to AFP.

Rebels fighting government forces in Syria’s Aleppo “will definitely be defeated,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem .

Meanwhile, rebels have refuted this claim with activists on the ground in Aleppo confirming that the fighting was ongoing and no government forces were inside the neighborhood of Salaheddine, one of the first to revolt against the government in the city of 3 million, AFP reports.

Also Monday, Syrian rebels seized a strategic checkpoint northwest of Aleppo after a 10-hour battle, securing them free movement between the northern city and Turkey, rebel officer General Ferzat Abdel Nasser said, according to AFP.

The government have sent reinforcements outside Aleppo and began an assault over the weekend to retake Aleppo.

At least 200,000 residents of the country’s commercial capital have fled in the past two days and many more are still trapped, according to the United Nations.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) on Sunday accused the government of preparing to carry out “massacres” in the northern city and pleaded for heavy weapons to enable rebels to meet the regime onslaught.

Several neighbourhoods in Aleppo where rebels are active have come under heavy government shelling, leading to high casualties among both fighters and civilians.

The London-based Observatory said more than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, have now died since the uprising against Assad’s government erupted in March 2011.

“All the border points between Iraq and Syria are under the control of the Free Syrian Army,” Adnan al-Assadi told AFP by telephone.

“The border points and all the outposts are under the control of the Free Syrian Army.”

A video filmed by rebels at the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey showed them climbing onto rooftops and ripping a poster of Assad.

The operations to seize the border checkpoints appear to show a level of coordination and effectiveness hitherto unseen from the rebels, who have been outgunned and outnumbered by the army throughout the 16-month conflict., Reuters writes.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 280 people, including 119 civilians, died in fighting across the country on Thursday, the highest death toll since the uprising began.

In Damascus, regime forces continued to use attack helicopters and artillery as fighting edged closer to key government buildings, one day after a suicide bomb attack killed four members of president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, including his brother-in-law and defense minister.

Meanwhile, Western powers were angered as Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions against Mr Assad if he did not end the use of heavy weapons.

At the same time, officials in neighboring Lebanon said refugees were pouring across the frontier with a security source confirming that 20,000 Syrians had crossed on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported.

“Those responsible for perpetrating this crime must be held to account,” they added.

Observers from the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) confirmed the killing after having viewed the bodies in the village of Houla, where they also confirmed from an examination of ordnance that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential neighbourhood.

General Robert Mood, the head of UNSMIS, issued a statement in which he said that UN observers went earlier today to Houla, where they counted more than 32 children under the age of 10 and over 60 adults killed.

“The circumstances that led to these tragic killings are still unclear,” the statement noted, while adding that whoever is responsible should be held accountable.

“This indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force is unacceptable and unforgivable. The killing of innocent children and civilians needs to stop,”  he stated.

All three officials demand that the Syrian Government immediately cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres, and called on all parties to halt violence in all its forms. Mr. Annan is contacting the Syrian authorities to convey the expectations of the international community, and he will also do so during his forthcoming visit to Syria.

The statements came as the Free Syrian Army said it could no longer commit to the ceasefire brokered by Annan unless there was an immediate solution to regime violence, Al Jazeera reported.

“We announce that unless the UN Security Council takes urgent steps for the protection of civilians, Annan’s plan is going to go to hell,” a statement by the FSA said on Saturday.

The peace plan drawn up by Annan, which took effect on April 12, stipulated that UN observers be deployed in the country to monitor a ceasefire. But the violence and bloodshed have not stopped.

State news agency SANA accused “armed terrorist groups” for the killings, adding that “clashes led to the killing of several terrorists and the martyrdom of several members of the special forces”.

According to videos by activists posted by Local Coordination Committees, opposition group, it showed scores of dead bodies, including children, covered by blankets following the ‘massacre’.

Activists from the region said government forces shelled Houla for 12 consecutive hours after Friday prayers. After that pro-assad thugs, known as shabiha, raided the villages, killing men on the streets and slaughtered women and children in their houses, activists said.

An official stated that the Sierra Leonean Lutfallah II had earlier obtained a permit to enter the port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon before being stopped by the navy on Thursday night.

The ship was towed to Selaata, a small port north of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, on Saturday, where it is expected to offload its cargo Aljazeera reported. 

Syrian authorities have constantly stated that weapons are being smuggled from Lebanon to Syria’s Free Army, fighting to overthrow Assad.

A resident told AFP that the ship weighed anchor in the morning, escorted by the navy to an unknown destination. An official also told AFP that the captain and 11 member crew were handed over to military intelligence officers in Tripoli for further questioning.

The ship has three containers onboard. All of them have been confiscated.

The owner of the ship is a Syrian citizen called Mohammad K., its captain is his brother, and its proxy is a Lebanese citizen from Minaa region called Ahmad B., Al Manar TV reported.

Meanwhile, a  Norwegian peacekeeper was on his way to Damascus to take charge of a UN mission overseeing a ceasefire, which has been violated by government forces.