President Barack Obama plans to deepen U.S. involvement in dealing with the Islamic State (also known as ISIL or ISIS) threat by providing arms and training to moderate Syrian rebels in the Middle East, officials said on Wednesday. The proposal however, raises questions on how it can be effectively implemented without backfiring on Washington.

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The proposal appears to have gained support from a congressional committee but some observers are unconvinced since the plan leaves key issues unanswered such as plans on how it intends to prevent U.S. military aid from falling into the wrong hands.

While the U.S. is accustomed to working with the militaries of its allies, it does not have legal authorization to train non-government forces.

The administration hopes to accomplish this by getting congressional authorization and approval of a US$500 million funding.

The initial thrust of the program was to train top-level fighters so they could pass the knowledge to their comrades. Now, plans have evolved to keep up with the growing ISIL threat.

CIA spokesperson Todd Ebitz said the ISIL has more than doubled in size, most notably in June when the group had strengthened recruitment campaigns following a series of successes and the establishment of a caliphate.

Several thousands of rebels will be directly provided with U.S. arms and training.

Groups with established track records will be prioritized for the program. Specifically, those "who have already proved themselves with either U.S.-made or U.S.-financed specialized weapons (and) anti-tank missiles," a senior official said.

It is likely the training sessions will go through Riyadh, he added, referring to a phone call between Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Wednesday where the latter voiced support for the provision of arms and training to rebels against the ISIS.

Meanwhile, some European allies are doubtful of the Obama's strategy in arming the rebels.

Although Germany has been employing the same strategy with the Kurdish forces in Iraq, it has refrained from doing so in Syria partly because it fears the weapons could fall into the hands of the ISIL or other extremist groups.

It is still unclear which militant groups are to be vetted for the program but analysts are certain the U.S. will be forced to depend on a diverse group of hard-hitting Islamists with no effective command structure, The New York Times reported.

"You are not going to find this neat, clean, secular rebel group that respects human rights and that is waiting and ready because they don't exist," said Syria analyst Aron Lund.

California Rep. Adam Schiff (D.) said many are doubtful of Obama's strategy, adding that the rebels too often have been very ineffective and immoderate.

"It is a very dirty war and you have to deal with what is on offer," Lund said.

TagsISIS, ISIL, Free Syrian Army, al-Nursa, Barack Obama, moderate Syrian rebels, US foreign policy, counterterrorism, US, Iraq, Adam Schiff, Aron Lund, Todd Ebitz