US House of Representatives votes down Gaetz's American troop withdrawal from Syria bill

A majority of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives rejected the withdrawal of American forces from Syria in a vote on Wednesday.

The draft resolution - submitted by Congressman Matt Gaetz from the Republican Party - was supported by 103 members of the House, while 321 rejected it.

Those who voted in favour of the draft resolution included 56 Democrats and 47 Republicans.

Addressing the House, Gaetz said he believed the US must bring its troops home from Syria.

"I do not believe what stands between a caliphate and not a caliphate are the 900 Americans who have been sent to this hellscape with no definition of victory, no clear objective, and purely existing as a vestige to the regime-change, failed foreign policies of multiple former presidents," he wrote on Twitter.

We must end the war in Syria and bring our troops home.

I do not believe what stands between a caliphate and not a caliphate are the 900 Americans who have been sent to this hellscape with no definition of victory, no clear objective, and purely existing as a vestige to the… https://t.co/0MRV6fTDoH pic.twitter.com/0gTFkSB0YK

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) March 8, 2023

Washington leads an international coalition in war-torn Syria that helped defeat the Islamic State (IS) group in the east of the country.

The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and US-led coalition still conduct periodic raids and strikes targeting the group in Syria.

The Syrian regime considers the US presence an "occupation".

After losing their last territory to local Kurdish-led forces backed by the coalition in 2019, IS remnants in Syria mostly retreated to desert hideouts in the country's east and have waged a low-level insurgency since then.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley made an unannounced visit to a US base in Syria over the weekend to assess his forces' nearly eight-year mission there.

The Al-Tanf US military base, which sits along Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan, has repeatedly been targeted with drone attacks and Iran-backed militia attacks.

The conflict in Syria - which has seen direct military involvement from Russia, Iran and Turkey - is believed to have killed over half a million people and displaced more than half of Syria’s post-war population.