US says it has 2,000 troops in Syria, not 900 as previously declared

Pentagon says the additional forces have been in Syria for ‘a while’, before fall of President Bashar al-Assad, though they were not publicly disclosed.

After years of telling the public that the United States has about 900 troops in Syria, the Pentagon has revealed there are approximately 2,000 soldiers there — double the previous estimate.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said the additional US forces have been in Syria since before the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad this month, though he did not specify a timeframe.

“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,” Ryder said.

“So, asked to look into it, I learned today that, in fact, there are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria.”

He added that there are 900 soldiers on long-term deployment in Syria while the rest are “considered temporary rotational forces”.