Obama approves military strike on Syria but only after Congress OK

President Barack Obama has said the United States should carry out a military strike against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons on civilians, but also turned to Congress for approval.

Obama said that the Assad regime's menace of carrying out alleged chemical attacks must be confronted with.

According to Fox News, however, the announcement also raised the question about whether the president put the burden on Congress to act.

Obama was driven to make a decision after a chemical weapons attack allegedly carried out by Assad regime on August 21, which killed thousands of civilians including a number of kids.

The attack was just one of several allegedly carried out by the Assad regime after Obama said about 12 months ago that the regime using a chemical weapon would cross a red line, the report said.

According to the report, the decision also sets up a congressional debate that could drag on for weeks, with members of Congress divided about whether the U.S. should get involved in another Middle East conflict.

Obama, with Navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea ready to strike, said he would wait for Congress to make its scheduled September 9 return from August recess.

He said that a military strike is 'not time sensitive' and would be effective even one month from now.

The White House sent Congress on Saturday afternoon a draft resolution on taking military action.

Obama also indicated he will not wait for either approval from the U.N. Security Council or the conclusion of U.N. inspectors' investigation into the Syria attack, the report added.