President Barack Obama has won backing from key US political figures on his plans for a military strike on Syria.
Mr Obama said a "limited" strike was needed to degrade President Bashar al-Assad's capabilities in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack.
Key Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor both voiced their support for military action. Congress is expected to vote next week.
More than 100,000 people are thought to have died since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011.
President Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden met House Speaker John Boehner, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and the Mr Boehner said his supported Mr Obama's call for action, and that only the US had the capacity to stop President Assad. Mr Boehner urged his colleagues in Congress to follow sHe said he was proposing military action that would degrade President Assad's capacity to use chemical weapons "now and in the future".
"What we are envisioning is something limited. It is something proportional," the president said.
"At the same time we have a broader strategy that will allow us to upgrade the capabilities of the opposition."
Later on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and the top US military officer, Gen Martin Dempsey, appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Mr Kerry told the panel that allies of the US such as Israel and Jordan were "one stiff breeze" away from potentially being hurt by any fresh chemical weapons attacks, and that US inaction would only embolden the Syrian president.
"This is not the time for armchair isolationism," Mr Kerry said. "This is not the time to be spectators to slaughter. Neither our country nor out conscience can afford the cost of silence.uit.
Mr Cantor, the House of Representatives majority leader, said he also backed Mr Obama.
The Virginia Republican said: "Assad's Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism, is the epitome of a rogue state, and it has long posed a direct threat to American interests and to our partners."
Mr Obama said that Mr Assad had to be held accountable for the chemical attack and that he was confident Congress would back him.
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