The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected a resolution aimed at forcing President Donald Trump to withdraw any U.S. military personnel from Lebanon whose deployment had not been authorized. The initiative was rejected even by more than half of the Democratic caucus, whose leadership has insisted that "currently, there are no U.S. military personnel participating in combat operations" on Lebanese territory.
In total, 324 congressmen voted against the war powers proposal—206 Republicans and 117 Democrats—compared to only 92 supporters, almost all of them Democratic representatives, with the sole exception of Republican Thomas Massie, whose political showdown with Trump has intensified in recent months.
The resolution was promoted by Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (Minnesota), who has accused the U.S. government of "operational participation and support" in the "brutal invasion, indiscriminate bombings, and ethnic cleansing campaign that the Israeli apartheid regime is carrying out in Lebanon."
Tlaib also criticized Israel's use of white phosphorus—a chemical compound used in artillery shells, bombs, and rockets that ignites on contact with oxygen—against Lebanese "residential neighborhoods," a use already denounced by organizations such as the NGO Human Rights Watch, and to which the congresswoman adds attacks against agricultural areas.
"The only place in the entire Northern Hemisphere that currently carries white phosphorus munitions is right here, in the United States, in Arkansas," she stressed. Later, in a video statement released on social media, she maintained that "Trump is helping to give the green light to these attacks, to the indiscriminate bombings, to the use of white phosphorus, to the attacks against journalists (and) medical personnel."
Despite this, the initiative did not gain sufficient support within her own party. The Democratic leadership in the House issued a statement emphasizing that "there are no U.S. military personnel participating in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon," a central argument to justify their vote against the resolution presented by Tlaib.
"House Democrats are committed to ending Donald Trump's reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. Nor do we support any attempt by the Trump Administration to involve the United States in a war in Lebanon or elsewhere in the Middle East," said Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries; Democratic Whip Katherine Clark; and Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar.
In the same text, they reiterated their support "for the Lebanese people, the Government of Lebanon, and the Lebanese Armed Forces in their efforts to live in peace and defeat (the Lebanese Shiite party-militia) Hezbollah, a violent terrorist organization that is a sworn enemy of the United States," a stance that differs from Tlaib's, among other aspects, due to the explicit reference to the Shiite group and the absence of direct mention of Israel.
In any case, Jeffries and the rest of the Democratic leadership in the House have argued that "the best legislative tool to keep U.S. troops out of Lebanon is the War Powers Resolution introduced yesterday (Wednesday) by Representative Rashida Tlaib, with the full support and collaboration of Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory Meeks."
"Accordingly, we will vote 'No'," they concluded, before expressing their intention to "work with Congresswoman Tlaib to support and build consensus around" the text registered the previous day, a commitment that the Minnesota representative trusts "House Democratic leadership will quickly fulfill," according to her own statement.