Obama asks Congress $500 million for military training and equipment for Syrian opposition fighters.

Money for the assistance, which would expand a CIA covert training program, is included in a $65.8 billion request for the Pentagon’s Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO.

The administration has said repeatedly in recent weeks that it was preparing additional assistance to vetted “moderate” opposition forces fighting both the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and extremists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), who have now spread their area of control across the Syrian border into Iraq.

If Congress approves the funding, it would mark the first direct U.S. military participation in the Syrian conflict. The training would probably take place in neighboring Jordan, where the CIA is currently training Syrian opposition forces, and possibly in Turkey.

“While we continue to believe that there is no military solution to this crisis and that the United States should not put American troops into combat in Syria, this request marks another step toward helping the Syrian people defend themselves against [Assad] regime attacks, push back against the growing number of extremists ... who find safe-haven in the chaos, and take their future into their own hands by enhancing security and stability at local levels,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement.

The Free Syrian Army is an armed opposition structure operating in Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war which was started in March 2011 in Daraa.

The Free Syrian Army is moderate, secular and backed by the United States with weapons and training. In recent months these weapons have included advanced American made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles. Most of the fighters of the free Syrian army are composed by defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel and volunteers.