Middle East
More US soldiers stationed in Syria than previously known
The Pentagon has long said that around 900 American soldiers are still deployed in Syria. Now the ministry is correcting the number significantly upwards.
There are currently more US soldiers stationed in Syria than previously known. The US Department of Defense corrected its previous information and announced that there were currently around 2,000 American soldiers in the country. The ministry had previously spoken of 900 soldiers stationed in Syria to fight the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia in the region.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said 900 troops are in Syria for a long-term deployment of about nine to 12 months at a time. The additional forces are temporary rotation troops that will only be there for one to three months at a time to meet any new requirements related to the IS mission.
When asked, Ryder explained that the higher number of American soldiers has been in Syria for “a while,” definitely since before the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. However, it was only now that the discrepancy in the numbers was noticed internally.
A rebel alliance led by the Islamist group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in Syria on December 8th.
dpa
Source: Stern
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