The Obama administration has been mulling plans to increase the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) involvement in providing support to moderate rebels in Syria, in an effort to boost U.S. anti-Islamic State operations, even as the Pentagon prepares to set up additional training facilities.

Proponents of the proposal say the new plan stands to augment the country's covert operations in the Middle East, which has significantly grown in the past year.

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The CIA currently screens and trains an average of 400 fighters each month. U.S. officials expect the same figures with Pentagon's program once it achieves completion late next year, the Washington Post relayed.

Senior U.S. security officials discussed the plan last week, although White House aides declined to provide further details. The CIA has likewise declined to comment on the matter, as well as to its involvement in Syria.

Observers say the proposal underscores the weakness of current U.S. efforts to bolster Syrian moderate rebels, which has to date, lagged behind the Islamic State and other al-Qaeda affiliates.

The agency has identified an "urgent" need to boost aid to Syrian moderates and this was the best immediate way to do it, a senior official who spoke under the condition of anonymity said.

The move is seen as part of efforts to expand U.S. involvement in the region, where the conflict - that has claimed more than 200,000 lives - continues to rage on.

In the past year, the CIA has proven its capabilities and given defense officials confidence that it can take on larger numbers of recruits and trainees and at the same time, maintain as little exposure to terrorist infiltration and other security risks as possible.

Still, U.S.-armed and trained moderates have shown little progress against the Islamic State and other rebel factions in Syria.

Last month, al-Qaeda offshoot group al-Nursa had seized U.S. weapons left by retreating CIA-backed moderates including Harakat Hazm, after a confrontation in northern Syria last month.

House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Adam B. Schiff expressed concern over the fact that the U.S.-armed and trained moderates were so easily routed by terror groups. He stressed that such incidents point to underlying problems that would be harder to offset with increased training.

TagsCIA, Barack Obama, national security, al-Nursa, Harakat Hazm, Adam Schiff, U.S. intelligence, war on terror