WASHINGTON

A group of bipartisan US senators introduced a bill to prevent US President Barack Obama from supplying arms to the Syrian opposion without congressional aproval.

The bill was introduced by Republicans Chris Gibson and Michelle Bachmann and Democrats Peter Welch and Rick Nolan from the US House and Democrats Tom Udall and Chris Murphy and Republicans Rand Paul and Mike Lee from the Senate. 

Senators expressed concern that the US might be dragged into crisis in Syria.

“If we intervene militarily, we will exacerbate the situation,’ Republican Gibson said. "We will not ease the concerns or the suffering there.’’ 

Democrat Welch said  it was vitally important that they recognized  the lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan.

 “Syria is in a brutal and tragic civil war the roots of which go back hundreds of years. To the extent that America can help with humanitarian assistance to ease this tragic refugee crisis, we should do so. But sending military assistance to Syrian rebels, or intervening directly in this conflict, will lead to the Americanization of this Sunni-Shia conflict. If America walks down this path, Congress and the American people should first be part of a vigorous debate. Congress has the constitutional responsibility to authorize any action and it should do its job,” Welch added. 

Republican Paul said president’s decision to arm the Syrian opposition  was 'incredibly disturbing' adding "I'm opposed to getting involved in the Syrian civil war, I'm opposed to sending arms to the Syrian Islamic rebels, but I'm particularly opposed to doing it with no vote of the people through their representatives."

House Speaker John Boehner told a seperate press conference that it was too soon to discuss such a vote. 

"I think that the United States has a strategic interest in what happens in Syria. We all would like to see Assad go. We'd also like to see a democratically elected government there," said Boehner. "And so for our interests and to support our allies in the region, I'm going to continue to work with the president on responsible steps that we can take to protect our interests." 

On the resolution, he said, "I don't know that we are ready for that conversation because the president has not suggested any specific steps forward at this point and so there is really nothing yet to vote on."

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