WASHINGTON: The United States doubled the number of troops it has in Syria as part of operations against the Islamic State militant group to around 2,000 earlier this year, the Pentagon said Thursday (Dec 19).
Washington has for years said it has some 900 military personnel in Syria as part of international efforts against the jihadist group, which seized swathes of territory there and in neighbouring Iraq before being defeated by local forces backed by a US-led air campaign.
But there are now “approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria” and have been for at least a few months, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists, saying he had just received the updated figure.
“The additional numbers … are considered temporary forces that are there to support the D-ISIS mission, to support the forces that are deployed there longer-term,” Ryder said, referring to the mission to defeat Islamic State.
