Key Takeaways
- The Defence Dept has updated the number of US troops in Syria to approximately 2,000.
- The US military presence in Syria is significant, with temporary rotational forces deployed in the region.
- The Syrian conflict is ongoing, with various opposition groups and the Syrian government vying for control.
Damascus: Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder has said that the information about 900 US soldiers deployed in Syria is incorrect, and according to updated data, the number of US troops in Syria is about 2,000 people.
“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 we asked to look into. I learned today that in fact there are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria …These additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces … Where is the core 900 deployer on longer term deployments … These forces were there before the fall of the Assad regime,” Ryder told a briefing on Thursday.
Last week, US Senator Rand Paul called on the US government to immediately withdraw 900 US troops from Syria.
Syria’s armed opposition captured Damascus on December 8. After negotiations with participants in the Syrian conflict, Russian officials said that Syrian President Bashar Assad stepped down and left Syria for Russia, where they granted him asylum.
Mohammed al-Bashir, who ran an Idlib-based administration formed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other opposition groups, was named interim prime minister last week.
He later announced that an interim government had been formed and would remain in place until March 2025.
