On Thursday, the Pentagon revealed the US has roughly 2,000 troops occupying Syria, more than twice the number it has been disclosing.
For years, the US has said it has about 900 troops inside Syria. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the troops levels have been at 2,000 for a “while,” well before the regime change that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Since the regime change in Syria on December 8, the Pentagon has been asked repeatedly about the number of US troops in the country and kept repeating the 900 number. Ryder claimed he had just learned that it was significantly higher than he had been saying.
“As you know, we have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately 900 US troops deployed to Syria. In light of the situation in Syria and the significant interest, we recently learned that those numbers were higher, and so asked to look into it. I learned today that in fact there are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria,” he said.
Ryder claimed the additional forces are on more temporary deployments while 900 are in Syria on a long-term basis. “As I understand it and as it was explained to me, these additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements, whereas the core 900 deployers are on longer-term deployments,” he said.
The US has been clear that it has no intention of withdrawing from Syria following the regime change and is using the presence of ISIS fighters as the justification to stay. The presence of US troops in Syria has always been a potential tripwire for a major conflict and is now even more so as the situation in the country is unclear.
The US backs the Kurdish-led SDF, which has been clashing with Turkey and its allies in northern Syria. A report from The Telegraph also revealed that the US had foreknowledge of the offensive launched by the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that ousted Assad and helped prepare another rebel group for the fight.
