Pentagon Spokesman Admits to Giving False Numbers About American Troops in Syria

On Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder revealed that there are actually roughly 2,000 American troops currently in Syria, more than twice as many as the total he previously reported.

As reported by the Daily Caller, Ryder admitted to being unaware of the fact that, on top of the 900 troops he had mentioned being in Syria for the last several months, another 1,100 troops were also in the country as “temporary rotational forces.”

“I don’t have a specific date to provide…but my understanding is it’s been for a while, so clearly, before the fall of the Assad regime,” said Ryder when asked about how long the additional 1,100 troops had been in the country.

Ryder also claimed that the troops were deployed to Syria as part of the mission to defeat the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), rather than be involved in the civil war which ultimately led to the toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 7th.

Multiple rebel groups fought against the Assad regime, including the last few ISIS fighters in the country, as well as a faction led by a former member of al-Qaeda. American forces in the country generally collaborate with the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has clashed with the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA). The SDF is currently holding at least 9,000 ISIS fighters as prisoners, further complicating the dynamic between the disparate rebel groups.

The end of Assad’s regime plunges the country, and the region, into further chaos as the war between Israel and the Islamic terror group Hamas continues. President-elect Donald Trump has stated that he believes the United States should stay out of the Syrian conflict.