WASHINGTON: The USA doubled the variety of troops it has in Syria as a part of operations towards the Islamic State militant group to round 2,000 earlier this yr, the Pentagon mentioned Thursday (Dec 19).
Washington has for years mentioned it has some 900 army personnel in Syria as a part of worldwide efforts towards the jihadist group, which seized swathes of territory there and in neighbouring Iraq earlier than being defeated by native forces backed by a US-led air marketing campaign.
However there at the moment are “roughly 2,000 US troops in Syria” and have been for a minimum of a couple of months, Pentagon spokesman Main Common Pat Ryder instructed journalists, saying he had simply acquired the up to date determine.
“The extra numbers … are thought of short-term forces which are there to help the D-ISIS mission, to help the forces which are deployed there longer-term,” Ryder mentioned, referring to the mission to defeat Islamic State.