WASHINGTON (AFP/Reuters) - Senator John McCain urged the United States on Sunday to step up its involvement in NATO air strikes on Libya, warning that a stalemate would likely draw Al-Qaeda into the conflict. Speaking from Cairo fresh from a visit to the Libyan stronghold of Benghazi, McCain welcomed President Barack Obama's authorization of Predator drones but urged him to recommit crucial American fighter planes as well. "The longer we delay, the more likely it is there's a stalemate," he told NBC's "Meet the Press". "And if you're worried about Al-Qaeda entering into this fight, nothing would bring Al-Qaeda in more rapidly and more dangerously than a stalemate." At the start of the popular uprising rocking his four-decade rule, Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi accused the rebels of being stooges of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. This theory was discredited by the West, but top NATO commander and US Admiral James Stavridis did say last month he had seen "flickers in the intelligence of potential Al-Qaeda" and Hezbollah, Lebanon's Shia militia, amongst the rebels. Meanwhile, pro-defence US senators on Sunday said the United States should raise military pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to leave, and one said NATO should end the crisis quickly with an attack aimed at Gaddafi and his inner circle in Tripoli. Voicing concern about the violence in Iranian ally Syria, lawmakers urged the White House to show more support for protesters trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman went further with a call for arms embargo on Syria and sanctions on Assad and his family. Senator Lindsey Graham on CNN's "State of the Union," said the Libyan rebels did not have enough momentum or training to end the stalemate with Gaddafi and urged an air campaign directed at Gaddafi and his inner circle. "My recommendation to NATO and the administration is to cut the head of the snake off, go to Tripoli, start bombing Gaddafi's inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters in Tripoli," Graham said. Meanwhile, Kuwait on Sunday gave 50 million dinars ($180 million) to the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council (TNC), its chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said. "This amount will help us pay part of the salaries of employees," Jalil told reporters after talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. "We are in need of urgent assistance." Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah said "Kuwait will provide large and urgent humanitarian aid through the national council." Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi to implement United Nations resolutions and end attacks on civilians, the ministry said on Sunday. "Lavrov said that the most important issue now is to stop the bloodshed and suffering of the civilian population," the ministry reported on its website, referring to a Saturday telephone conversation between the two politicians. Libya must abide by the UN's Security Council resolution "and ensure an immediate ceasefire, above all in Misrata and other population centres", he said. Russia also called on Libya to work with international organisations to ease the humanitarian crisis in the North African nation. "Russia is prepared to work with the African Union and the UN to move the situation to political and diplomatic channels," the statement said.