The Pentagon says additional forces have been in Syria for 'some time', before the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, although it has not been publicly disclosed.
After years of telling the public that the United States had 900 troops in Syria, the Pentagon has revealed that there are nearly 2,000 troops there – double the previous estimate.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said US troops have been in Syria since the former president was ousted. Bashar al-Assad this month, although he did not specify the time.
“We have been telling you regularly that there are about 900 US troops deployed to Syria. Considering the situation in Syria and the great interest, we recently learned that the number was higher,” said Ryder.
“So, when I was asked to check, I learned today that, there are about 2,000 US troops in Syria.”
He said there are 900 troops deployed long-term to Syria while the rest are “considered temporary forces”.
According to Ryder, an unspecified 1,100 troops will be in Syria “temporarily”. Pressed for details by reporters, a Pentagon spokesman said he had been deployed there for “a few” months.
The US began sending troops to Syria in 2014 with the aim of to defeat ISIL (ISIS), but the US military remained in the country after the defeat of the group in 2017.
Washington sided with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which now controls much of eastern Syria.
However, Turkey, a NATO ally of the US, sees the SDF as a threat to its national security by linking up with Kurdish militias it calls “terrorist groups”.
After rebel fighters seized control of western Syria and toppled al-Assad, they regained command of the war front. some parts of Syriawhere the dispute had been closed for several months.
The Turkish-backed Syrian army and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls the new government in Damascus, have taken control of areas formerly held by the SDF in the past two weeks.
The prospect of an all-out war between the Syrian armed forces with the help of Turkiye and the SDF has raised questions about the future of US forces in Syria.
On Thursday, Ryder said there were no changes to the US military presence in the country.
“There are no plans to stop the 'defeat ISIS' operation. I mean, again, ISIS continues to hold or threaten more,” he said.
Beyond its military presence in eastern Syria, the US has said it is directly involved new authorities in Damascus, although it continues to label HTS as a “terrorist” group.
Washington has delivered on the demands it has said it wants to see in Syria, including impartial governance.
“The transition process and the new government must also confirm a full commitment to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of aid to all those in need, protect Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or terrorize its neighbors, and ensure that any chemical or biological weapons has been secured and safely destroyed,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement last week.
Meanwhile, one of the US's closest allies, Israel, is bombarding Syria's military and expanding its occupation beyond the Golan Heights by seizing territory. highly criticized across the Middle East.