The White House had no immediate reaction to the Senate measure. Secretary of State John Kerry, testifying earlier before the committee, signaled that the troop restriction was acceptable.
Now the administration needs to persuade a Republican-dominated House of Representatives has opposed almost everything on Obama's agenda since the party seized the majority more than three years ago.
The top opposition Republican in Congress, House Speaker John Boehner, has signaled key support, saying the U.S. has “enemies around the world that need to understand that we're not going to tolerate this type of behavior.”
The administration says 1,429 people died from the gas attack on Aug. 21. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of anti-government activists in Syria, says its toll has reached 502.
Assad's government blames the episode on the rebels. A United Nations inspection team is awaiting lab results on tissue and soil samples it collected while in the country last week.
