United States: US lawmakers have rejected a bill demanding the withdrawal of all US troops from Syria, despite repeated protests from the Damascus government, which has dismissed its armed presence as illegal. Instead it has chosen to continue with years of military occupation.

The Syria War Powers Resolution, sponsored by the GOP and facing strong bipartisan opposition, was defeated by a vote of 103-321 on Wednesday despite the support of 56 Democrats and 47 Republicans.

The legislation, proposed by Florida Republican Matt Gaetz last month, would have directed President Joe Biden to withdraw the 900 US troops stationed in the Middle Eastern country within six months. Gaetz slammed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after the vote, claiming that Congress never authorized military action in Syria in the first place.

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"The United States has no role in Syria. We are not a major force in the region. Sand, blood and Arab militias have all been used to try to build a democracy," he said on the House floor. Failed repeatedly to reduce the chaos.

This often leads to anarchy, and it is anarchy that breeds terrorism. Even if today's vote is unsuccessful, my fight to bring our troops home and end endless wars has just begun.

Opponents of the war powers resolution expressed concern that a US withdrawal could lead to a resurgence of terrorist organizations in the region. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat, argued that the withdrawal would be "premature", even though he did not support "indefinite" deployment.

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He did not provide a specific timeframe for when US forces should withdraw from Syria, an area under intermittent occupation for nearly a decade despite years of vocal opposition from the government in Damascus.

Gaetz insisted it was "unlikely" despite a previous inspector general report that the US presence in Syria has served as a "recruitment tool" for the infamous terrorist group, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

We must also acknowledge that the two nations on earth that have contributed the most to funding ISIS are Syria and Iraq. He continued to refer to President Barack Obama's policy of arming rebel groups trying to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, many of whom maintain close ties to al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups. "We give weapons to these so-called moderate rebels ... and it turns out they are not moderates," he said.

Three successive presidents have cited military authorization passed after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 to support the decision, even though Congress never authorized the deployment of troops to Syria.

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According to the Congressional Research Service, the same law has been used as justification for more than 40 US military operations in at least 19 different countries since 2001.