Number of US troops in Syria has steadily increased over time, Pentagon now says

The number of US troops in Syria has regularly surged higher than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed since at least 2020, and in recent months increased to more than double the roughly 900 troops the US has long said are in Syria, multiple defense officials familiar with the matter told CNN.

The number of US troops in Syria has regularly surged higher than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed since at least 2020, and in recent months increased to more than double the roughly 900 troops the US has long said are in Syria, multiple defense officials familiar with the matter told CNN. The Pentagon said last week that the additional troops beyond the 900 are “temporary.” But on Monday, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, acknowledged that the numbers of forces in Syria “in general have increased over time as the threat has increased to baseline forces.” Ryder first revealed on Thursday that the number of troops in Syria is around 2,000, “significantly higher than what we’ve been briefing” in recent months and years. He also said that he only found out about the larger footprint there in recent days. The Army’s director of plans, operations, and training distributed the true number internally earlier this month, two officials told CNN. It is not clear when exactly the troop numbers reached their current peak, but the US surged additional assets and personnel to the Middle East following last year’s October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. On Monday, the Pentagon issued a new statement attempting to clarify the long-standing discrepancy about the number of troops in Syria. “In addition to the approximately 900 baseline troops, there are also approximately 1,100 U.S. military personnel in Syria that deploy for shorter durations as temporary enablers in support of force protection, transportation, maintenance, or other emerging operational requirements,” Ryder said.