The Pentagon said additional troops had been in Syria “for some time” before the fall of President Bashar Assad, but had not disclosed it publicly.

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

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday that additional U.S. troops have been in Syria since before the former president stepped down. Bashar al-Assad this month, but he did not specify a timetable.

“We have been updating you regularly that approximately 900 U.S. troops are deployed in Syria. Given the situation in Syria and the intense interest, we have recently learned that those numbers are higher,” Ryder said.

“So when I was asked to look into this, I learned today that, in fact, there are approximately 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria.”

He added that 900 troops were permanently deployed in Syria and the rest “are considered temporary rotational forces.”

Ryder said the previously undeclared 1,100 troops had been in Syria “for some time.” When reporters pressed for more details, a Pentagon spokesman said they had been deployed there for “at least” a few months.

The United States began sending troops to Syria in 2014 with the stated goal of Defeat ISIS (Islamic State), but U.S. troops remained in the country after the group was defeated territorially in 2017.

Washington is allied with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which currently controls much of eastern Syria.

However, America’s NATO partner Turkey views the SDF as a threat to its national security because of its links to Kurdish militant groups it labels a “terrorist” group.

Opposition fighters have reignited fighting on Syria’s front lines after they seized western Syria and overthrew Assad. Rest of SyriaThe conflict there has been frozen for months.

Turkish-backed Syrian militants and Tahrir al-Sham, which leads the new government in Damascus, have over the past two weeks seized areas previously controlled by the SDF.

The prospect of an all-out war between Syrian armies Türkiye supports The SDF has raised questions about the future role of U.S. forces in Syria.

On Thursday, Ryder said there were no plans to change the U.S. military presence in the country.

“There are no plans to stop the ‘defeat ISIS’ mission. What I mean is that ISIS continues to persist or pose a significant threat,” he said.

In addition to its troops in eastern Syria, the United States has said it is in direct contact with the Syrian government. new authorities in Damascus, although it continues to officially label HTS a “terrorist” organization.

Washington has laid out a list of demands it wants to see in Syria, including non-sectarian governance.

“The transition process and the new government must also uphold a clear commitment to fully respect the rights of minority groups, promote humanitarian assistance to all in need, prevent Syria from being used as a terrorist base or pose a threat to its neighbours, and ensure All stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons are secured and safely destroyed,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement last week.

Meanwhile, Israel, one of America’s top allies, has been bombing military assets in Syria and expanding its occupation beyond the Golan Heights through land grabs. widely condemned Across the Middle East.