US troops doubled in Syria before Assad’s overthrow, Pentagon says

The U.S. more than doubled its number of troops in Syria — from 900 to around 2,000 — before the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, the Pentagon said Thursday, publicly disclosing the surge for the first time.

In a rare step, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder opened the regular Thursday briefing at the Pentagon with the admission.

“I learned today that, in fact, there are approximately 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria,” he said.

Ryder had previously told reporters that there were 900 such forces in the country as part of America’s decade-old fight against the Islamic State group. These troops are deployed for nine to 12 months at a time, he said Thursday, as opposed to the 1,100 extra forces who are being surged for a shorter window of 30 to 90 days.

Ryder could not share where the troops came from, what units are involved or their specific mission — other than it concerns the mission against ISIS and that most of the troops are from the Army.

Pentagon spokespeople were scrambling Thursday to answer further questions from reporters, including where the troops are operating and how it’s possible so many extra forces are in the country without their knowledge.

“I’m confident that the secretary is tracking U.S. forces deployed around the world,” Ryder said. “There oftentimes are going to be diplomatic or operational security considerations as it relates to the deployment of forces,” and whether they’re made public, he said.

Ryder said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not order the surge of troops to be kept private. Ryder also did not directly respond to a question about whether any part of the Defense Department attempted to conceal the information, since the Pentagon has publicly said the number of troops in the country is 900 for years.

He said Austin and Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command, have not discussed the issue despite the two speaking often.

Late last month, Syria’s ruling Assad regime fell after 50 years in power, when rebels stormed the capital of Damascus following a rapid offensive. The U.S. and Israel have since been pounding the country with airstrikes, hitting targets that were once off-limits due to the regime or Russian forces operating in the area.

U.S. Central Command conducted two large strikes in the last two weeks, the crescendo to a rising campaign against ISIS that’s involved more raids in Syria and Iraq over the last several months.

The extra forces were inside Syria before the regime fell, Ryder said.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has publicly called for the U.S. not to get further involved in the country. During his first presidency, Trump tried to withdraw American forces from the country, leading his first defense secretary to resign.

Since Israel’s war in Gaza began last year, American troops in the Middle East — including Syria — have been under increasing fire. There have been at least 181 attacks on U.S. forces in the region since Oct. 17, 2023.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

美国五角大楼周四表示，在巴沙尔·阿萨德总统政权垮台之前，美国在叙利亚的驻军人数增加了一倍多，从 900 人增加到约 2000 人。这是五角大楼首次公开披露这一增兵行动。

五角大楼新闻秘书帕特·莱德少将在周四例行新闻发布会上罕见地承认了这一点。

他说：“我今天了解到，实际上大约有2000名美军士兵驻扎在叙利亚。”

莱德此前曾告诉记者，作为美国十年来打击伊斯兰国行动的一部分，该国部署了900名此类部队。他周四表示，这些部队每次部署时间为9至12个月，而此次增派的1100名部队则部署时间较短，仅为30至90天。

莱德无法透露这些部队来自哪里、涉及哪些单位或他们的具体任务——只知道这与打击 ISIS 的任务有关，而且大部分部队来自陆军。

周四，五角大楼发言人忙着回答记者们的进一步提问，包括部队在哪里作战，以及为什么这么多额外的部队在他们不知情的情况下出现在该国。

“我相信部长正在密切关注部署在全球各地的美军，”莱德说。“部队部署往往会涉及外交或作战安全方面的考量，”至于这些考量是否会公开，他补充道。

莱德表示，国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀并未下令对增兵行动保密。莱德也没有直接回应国防部是否有任何部门试图隐瞒这一信息的问题，因为五角大楼多年来一直公开表示，驻扎在该国的美军人数为900人。

他说，尽管奥斯汀和美国中央司令部司令埃里克·库里拉将军经常通话，但他们并没有讨论过这个问题。

上月底，叙利亚执政的阿萨德政权在执政50年后垮台，反政府武装发动快速攻势，攻占了首都大马士革。此后，美国和以色列对叙利亚进行了猛烈的空袭，打击了此前因叙利亚政权或俄罗斯军队在该地区活动而禁止触及的目标。

美国中央司令部在过去两周内进行了两次大规模空袭，这是针对ISIS的打击行动不断升级的高潮，过去几个月来，该行动还在叙利亚和伊拉克进行了更多突袭。

莱德说，这些增援部队在叙利亚政权垮台之前就已经部署在叙利亚境内。

与此同时，候任总统唐纳德·特朗普公开呼吁美国不要进一步介入该国事务。在他第一任总统任期内，特朗普曾试图从该国撤出美军，导致其首任国防部长辞职。

自去年以色列入侵加沙以来，驻中东（包括叙利亚）的美军遭受的袭击日益增多。自2023年10月17日以来，该地区至少发生了181起针对美军的袭击事件。

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。