Rep. Adam Schiff’s new resolution expires after 3 years, forbids ground troops in combat against IS

Frustrated with White House inaction, a senior House of Representatives Democrat will introduce legislation Wednesday formally authorizing President Barack Obama’s war on the so-called Islamic State nearly six months after it began. Rep. Adam Schiff’s Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) would impose strict limits that the Pentagon publicly opposes, forbidding the use of U.S. ground troops to carry out combat missions and limiting military action to Iraq and Syria.

Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News that he is “frustrated generally because we haven’t had any movement on an authorization and we’ve been at war almost half a year.

“I’m frustrated with the White House, but I have the most discomfort with the Congress itself, because it’s our constitutional responsibility to declare war,” the California lawmaker said. “We’re the institution that has the strongest interest in moving and exercising our prerogative under the Constitution.”

The legislation, which would expire in three years, would immediately repeal the 2002 AUMF that permitted the March 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2001 AUMF that approved the campaign in Afghanistan. Obama has said those measures give him the legal authority to strike the extremist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, without separate congressional approval. Lawmakers in both parties disagree.

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U.S. President Barack Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden (L) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) looking on, …

Obama said in his first press conference after the November 2014 elections that he would work with Congress to develop an AUMF on Iraq and Syria, and used his State of the Union speech on Jan. 20 to “call on this Congress to show the world that we are united in this mission by passing a resolution to authorize the use of force.” Aides to key lawmakers told Yahoo News that, as of Jan. 26, the White House had still not explicitly laid out what it wanted the AUMF to say. Traditionally, the White House drafts this kind of legislation and sends it to Congress.

Schiff’s proposal was certain to draw opposition from the Pentagon. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, said late last week that any AUMF covering the Islamic State should not limit the fight geographically and should not expire. He also appeared to argue against placing limits on the use of U.S. ground forces.

"I think in the crafting of the AUMF, all options should be on the table, and then we can debate whether we want to use them,” Dempsey told the official Defense Department news service. “But the authorization should be there."

Asked about Dempsey’s comments, Schiff told Yahoo News that the administration is always free to come back to Congress to seek wider authorization.

“If the circumstances change, and the president finds it necessary to use combat troops in combat missions, then he should come back to the Congress to seek that authority,” the lawmaker said. “Likewise, on geography, we are not authorizing the country to go to war with (Nigerian extremists) Boko Haram. If circumstances change, then the president can come back and ask us for more authority.”

It’s not clear what fate Schiff’s resolution, which would allow the use of U.S. ground troops in special operations missions or to perform training, advisory or intelligence missions, will meet in Congress. Most Republicans who have weighed in on the AUMF have taken positions in line with Dempsey’s. Some Democrats, like Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, are closer to Schiff’s view, while others favor compromise language that would simply underline that Obama has repeatedly said he has no plans to order Americans into combat on the ground.

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U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey (R) and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel testify before …

“Having reasonable sunsets and geographic limitations on Authorizations for Use of Military Force ensures regular assessment of the mission to re-evaluate goals and benchmarks and determine whether it is in the national interest to continue as originally intended,” an aide to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrat told Yahoo News. “Absent such temporal and geographic limitations, we risk keeping the country on a perpetual war footing that could last years — or decades — beyond the intended scope of the mission.”

The White House has struggled for months with whether and how to seek lawmakers’ approval for the military campaign.

In December, with the Senate still in Democratic hands, Secretary of State John Kerry pressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee not to “pre-emptively bind the hands of the commander in chief” by restricting the use of ground troops or limiting the fighting geographically. That put the administration at odds with Democrats inclined to impose those kinds of curbs, and aligned the White House with Republicans inclined not to limit executive-branch war-making power.

“I suppose if I were in the White House I’d be making the same argument to preserve presidential prerogative and presidential freedom of action,” Schiff said. “But we have experience now with two authorizations that have long outlived their intended lives. We want to avoid a repetition of that.”

In January, after Republicans formally took over the Senate, Obama promised them he would soon send up legislation language.

But the White House has found itself in an unusual conundrum. Administration officials say Obama national security aides like Dempsey want to see an AUMF that sets few, if any, limits. But Obama’s political aides are worried that pursuing that course could cost them the support of many — perhaps even most — Democrats in Congress, undermining the president’s position.

Meanwhile, as official Washington has dithered, the price tag for Operation Inherent Resolve against IS keeps climbing. As of Jan. 9, the total cost of operations since the first American airstrikes on Aug. 8 had topped $1.3 billion for more than 1,700 airstrikes. Obama has ordered about 3,000 U.S. ground troops to Iraq. Three American military personnel have died.

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CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: In this Monday, Nov. 17, 2014 file photo, smoke rises from the Syrian city of Kobani, …

SHEAR YASHUV, Israel (AP) — A missile fired by the Lebanese Hezbollah group struck an Israeli military convoy on Wednesday, killing two soldiers in an apparent retaliation for a deadly airstrike attributed to Israel that killed six Hezbollah fighters in Syria earlier this month.

The violence was the deadliest Hezbollah attack against Israeli forces since a 2006 war between the two sides.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond "forcefully" to the attack, and the military launched aerial and ground assault on Hezbollah positions, including at least 50 artillery shells according to Lebanese officials. A Spanish peacekeeper was killed in the border flare-up in southern Lebanon.

In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters destroyed a number of Israeli vehicles that were carrying Israeli officers and soldiers and caused casualties among "enemy ranks." The soldiers' ranks were not immediately known.

Hezbollah said the attack was carried out by a group calling itself the "righteous martyrs of Quneitra," suggesting it was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on the Golan Heights on Jan. 18 that killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general.

Ever since, Israel has braced for a response to the strike, beefing up its air defenses and increasing surveillance along its northern frontier.

The Israeli military said an anti-tank missile hit an Israeli military vehicle near Mount Dov and Chebaa Farms, a disputed tract of land where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet. The two soldiers were killed in the strike and seven others were wounded, the military said.

About an hour after the attack, mortars were fired at several Israeli military locations on Mount Dov and Mount Hermon, the Israeli military said. No injuries were reported in that attack. The military said it responded with fire toward Lebanese positions, and evacuated Israeli visitors from a ski resort in the area.

The flare-up recalled the beginning of the month-long 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, which was sparked by a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli military vehicle along the border and the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military said there was no indication of any Israeli soldiers captured in Wednesday's attack.

But the latest salvos raised the possibility of renewed fighting along the Lebanese-Israel border, which has remained mostly quiet since the 2006 war. Since then, Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery fire following a number of rocket attacks and shootings, but the violence has remained contained.

Earlier Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes in Syria targeting Syrian army artillery posts in response to two rockets that were fired from Syria the previous day into the Israeli-held Golan Heights. No casualties were reported in that exchange of fire.

Two Lebanese officials said the Israeli shelling targeted the border villages of Majidiyeh, Abbasiyeh and Kfar Chouba near the Chebaa Farms area. By afternoon, residents along the border reported the shelling had died down but that there were still Israeli aircraft flying overhead.

The Spanish Defense Ministry identified the dead peacekeeper as Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, 36. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters he received a phone call from Israel's ambassador to Spain, offering condolences.

In a statement, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that he conveyed Israel's condolences for the death in a conversation with his Spanish counterpart.

Families living on the outskirts of the Lebanese villages fled further within, fearing they'd be hit, said the two Lebanese officials, who are based in south Lebanon. Celebratory gunfire echoed in Shiite-dominated areas of Beirut, while in some areas, nervous parents hurried to pick up their children from school and hunker home.

Sounds of firing were heard near the Israeli village of Shear Yashuv, and there were plumes of smoke near Mount Dov. Israeli helicopters flew above and Israeli police and army set up checkpoints on roads near the border, closing roads briefly.

Netanyahu, speaking at an event in southern Israel, warned that Israel's enemies would face a fate similar to Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip who fought a brutal 50-day war against Israel last summer.

"To anyone who is trying to challenge us on the northern border I suggest looking at what happened here, not far from the city of Sderot, in the Gaza Strip. Hamas was dealt its heaviest blow ever since its founding and the Israel Defense Forces is prepared to act forcefully in all areas," he said.

Israel Ziv, a reserve Israeli general and a former head of the IDF's Operations Directorate, told reporters that the situation was "flammable" and that Israel should work to "contain" the situation.

"We could find ourselves in a war that does not belong to Israel," he said.

"I do believe that Israel understands that it needs to contain it," he said, added Israel should not take any "steps that would pull us into the chaotic situation in Syria."

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Karam reported from Beirut. Daniel Estrin and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem, Diaa Hadid in Beirut and Alan Clendenning in Madrid contributed to this report.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Mormon church announced a campaign Tuesday for new laws that protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination while somehow also protecting people who assert their religious beliefs.

"We must find ways to show respect for others whose beliefs, values and behaviors differ from ours while never being forced to deny or abandon our own beliefs, values and behaviors in the process," a church elder, Jeffrey R. Holland, said in announcing the church's position.

Mormon leaders did not explain just how it would draw lines between gay rights and religious freedoms, and it's unclear how much common ground the church will gain with this campaign. The church insists it is making no changes in doctrine, and still believes that sex is against the law of God unless it's within a marriage between a man and a woman.

But the new approach could profoundly change political calculations in the Mormon strongholds of Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona, where the church and its members play a large civic role.

In Utah, where most state lawmakers are Mormon, the announcement was cheered after years of failed efforts to pass anti-discrimination measures.

"What the LDS church did today was historic," said Democratic state Sen. Jim Dabakis, who was raised Mormon and is openly gay. "This was a bold, strong, principled statement ... today we are seeing the fruits of civility and respect."

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In this Sept. 3, 2014, file photo, shows flowers blooming in front of the Salt Lake Temple. in Templ …

The gay-rights group Equality Utah also applauded, saying LGBT rights can co-exist with freedoms of religious individuals.

But national advocates on both sides were dismissive.

The Rev. Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention called the Mormon leaders "well-intentioned, but naive" about animosity toward religious exemptions. And Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, called it "deeply flawed." The First Amendment's protection of religious freedom "does not give any of us the right to harm others, and that's what it sounds like the proposal from the Mormon church would do - it would allow a doctor to refuse to care for a lesbian because of his religious beliefs, for example," said James Esseks, who directs the LGBT project of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The campaign is the latest example of a shift in tone on gay rights by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which counts 15 million members worldwide. They have moved away from harsh rhetoric and are preaching compassion and acceptance of gays and lesbians now that gay marriage is legal in Washington D.C. and 36 states including Utah.

"Accommodating the rights of all people — including their religious rights — requires wisdom and judgment, compassion and fairness," said Holland, who appeared at a rare news conference with two other apostles from the church's governing Quorum of the Twelve.

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In this Sept. 11, 2014, file photo, the angel Moroni statue sits atop the Salt Lake Temple in Temple …

"Politically, it certainly requires dedication to the highest level of statesmanship. Nothing is achieved if either side resorts to bullying, political point scoring or accusations of bigotry."

The Mormon church will back laws that protect "vital religious freedoms for individuals, families, churches and other faith groups while also protecting the rights of our LGBT citizens in such areas as housing, employment and public accommodation in hotels, restaurants and transportation," said Dallin H. Oaks, another apostle.

Mormon leaders still want to hire and fire workers based on their religious beliefs as well as behavior standards known as honor codes, which require gays and lesbians to remain celibate or marry someone of the opposite sex. The church also wants legal protections for religious objectors who work in government and health care, such as a physician who refuses to perform an abortion, or provide artificial insemination for a lesbian couple.

"It is one of today's great ironies that some people who have fought so hard for LGBT rights now try to deny the rights of others to disagree with their public policy proposals," Oaks said.

Accommodations for religious objectors have factored into every state legislative debate over gay rights. But rights advocates have gained leverage as support for same-sex marriage grows. In some states, such as Arizona, even business leaders are on their side, saying broad religious exemptions hurt a state's image.

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Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks during a news conf …

But religious conservatives also mobilized after the U.S. Supreme Court set a broad expansion of gay marriage in motion last year, pressing states to allow some groups, companies and people to refuse some benefits or service for gay spouses. And gay rights groups seeking job and housing protections have faced an uphill battle in the more politically and religiously conservative states.

Much has changed since Mormons led a fight against same-sex unions in California.

Given the "current contentious atmosphere that exists among people of different views on these subjects," Oaks said, "we wish to promote a more Christian, a more civil and considerate tone."

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Associated Press write Michelle L. Price contributed to this story in Salt Lake City.

BETIN, West Bank (AP) — The fate of a 14-year-old Palestinian girl, tried before an Israeli military court for hurling rocks at passing cars in the West Bank and sentenced to two months in prison, has gripped Palestinians who say her treatment demonstrates Israel's excessive measures against stone-throwing youth.

Malak al-Khatib, arrested last month, is one of only a rare few female Palestinian minors who have ever faced arrest and sentencing by Israeli authorities.

"A 14-year-old girl won't pose any threat to soldiers' lives," said her father, Ali al-Khatib. "They are well equipped and well trained so what kind of threat could she have posed to them?"

The Israeli military said al-Khatib was charged with stone-throwing, attempted stone-throwing and possession of a knife and that under a plea bargain, she was sentenced to two months in prison and a $1,500 fine.

Having spent four weeks in detention, al-Khatib has another four left weeks left at a central Israeli prison for women.

Out of a total of more than 5,500 Palestinians held by Israel, about 150 are minors, the vast majority of them male, according to official figures from November, provided by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 photo, Palestinian Khawla Al-Khatib, looks at posters belonging to he …

Malak al-Khatib is among a handful of female minors ever held by Israel. Palestinian officials say she is the youngest girl ever detained and sentenced by Israel — a claim Israeli officials and rights groups said they were not able to confirm.

Palestinians and rights groups criticize Israel for its response to rock-throwing, either directed at its forces or civilians. Israel views rock-throwing as a dangerous tactic and at times a life-threatening attack, and claims it can be the first step toward militancy. Palestinians see it as a legitimate way to resist Israel's occupation.

Israel was hit by a wave of riots by Palestinians in east Jerusalem last year, following the killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy by Jewish extremists in revenge for the abduction and murder of three Israeli teens.

Up to 1,000 protesters were arrested, many of them for stone-throwing. Israeli police said many of those arrested were minors. Some of them, schoolbags strapped to their backs, hurled stones at security forces on their way to or from school.

Protests in the West Bank since then have been more subdued, but still occur frequently, with Palestinian protesters clashing with Israeli troops — incidents that often end in arrests.

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 photo, Palestinian Khawla Al-Khatib, left, sits with her son Yusuf al …

Stones and small rocks have become an iconic weapon in the West Bank. In the past six years, more than half of all arrests of Palestinian youth have been over stone-throwing.

On Dec. 31, al-Khatib walked to a West Bank road used by both Israelis and Palestinians, and began throwing stones at passing cars, Palestinian officials told her parents.

Israeli security forces later arrested her and said they found a knife in her possession.

"These kids grow up with news about clashes, about oppression of Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and they go to express themselves," Ali al-Khatib said.

The girl's parents, who appeared with her in court, said her feet were shackled and she was handcuffed.

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 photo, Palestinian Khawla Al-Khatib points at posters belonging to he …

Since her arrest, the case has received constant media attention in the West Bank and spawned countless memes and caricatures, some showing al-Khatib, full-cheeked and pouty-lipped, behind bars and holding a teddy bear. One drawing shows a cherubic al-Khatib — whose first name means angel in Arabic — tied to shackles held by an Israeli soldier.

At her home, al-Khatib's bedroom shows the interests of a 14-year-old girl steeped in the realities of day-to-day life in the West Bank.

Bracelets and necklaces bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag and a poster of a Palestinian man from her village killed in clashes with Israeli forces lie near a picture of Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sarit Michaeli from B'Tselem said that under Israel's military justice system, al-Khatib will not be afforded the same rights and protections as Israeli minors under Israel's legal system.

"An Israeli child will not be held in detention for three weeks, even a boy, let alone a girl, because of these protections provided to children by the Israeli youth law," she said.

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 photo, Palestinian Ali al-Khatib, father of 14-year old-daughter Mala …

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for state. Palestinians living in the West Bank are subject to Israel's military justice system, whereas Jewish settlers and Israelis fall under a separate legal system.

Issa Karake, head of the Palestinian government's Prisoner Affairs Department, said al-Khatib's case is just another in a policy meant to break the spirits of young people resisting the Israeli occupation.

"The Israelis show no tolerance with the Palestinian children," Karake said. "The Israelis are crushing a whole generation."

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Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.