Wednesday, 25 December 2024

Pentagon admits massive surge of US troops in Syria


pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder
© AP / Kevin WolfPress Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon, December 19, 2024
Washington insists it was a coincidence that reinforcements were sent before the collapse of President Bashar Assad's government

The US has revealed that it has more than doubled its military presence in Syria, with a Pentagon spokesman saying that he "just recently learned" there were in fact roughly 2,000 American forces deployed in the country, rather than 900 troops as previously reported.

For years, the Pentagon had maintained that "about 900" US troops were stationed in the country, and officials continued to repeat this figure even after the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad on December 8.

However, during a press conference on Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that "we recently learned that those numbers [are] higher."


Comment: "Recently learned"? That's a pretty big "oops, our bad" moment.


"Given the difference in what we've been briefing and what the actual number is, I just felt that it was important to get you that information," Ryder said, citing diplomatic and operational security sensitivities as part of the reason for the delay in disclosure.

The Pentagon spokesman explained that the additional troops had been in Syria "at a minimum, months" on a rotational basis, which has been "going on for a while."

He insisted that the increase was not related to the recent events and that the timing was merely a coincidence.


Comment: Anyone want to buy a used bridge?


"As I understand it and as it was explained to me, these additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements, whereas the core 900 deployers are on longer-term deployments," Ryder said.

The US military has been active in Syria since as early as 2014, ostensibly to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS) terrorists, and has flown countless airstrikes against select militant groups and, at times, Syrian government forces.


Comment: Which, against ISIS, were mysteriously ineffective:
  • Raqqa refugees to RT: 'US coalition bombs randomly, hitting civilians rather than ISIS'
  • For 18 months, as ISIS advanced, the US did nothing to stop them
  • US Drones Attack Syria's Military, "Disguised as an Airstrike against ISIS"
  • 'Mysterious helicopters' have rescued and supplied ISIS and al-Qaeda time and time again
  • The U.S.'s farcical war against ISIS is falling apart

  • Under President Barack Obama, Washington doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to an array of jihadist rebel factions seeking to overthrow Assad, although the effort later fizzled following Russian and Iranian military involvement at the request of Damascus.

    In 2019, President Donald Trump ordered all US troops to withdraw, but Pentagon officials pushed back, and he backtracked later that year, saying: "We're keeping the oil... We left troops behind only for the oil."


    Comment: The Pentagon didn't "push back", they disobeyed Trump's order to withdraw the troops and then flat out lied to him that it had been done.


    US official admits misleading Trump on US troop numbers in Syria
    Outgoing Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, the U.S. special envoy for Syria, admitted in an interview with Defense One to misleading President Donald Trump about the true number of U.S. troops deployed in Syria and convincing the president not to withdraw troops.

    Jeffrey said, "We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership (ed note: that would be Trump) how many troops we had there." Jeffrey said the actual number of troops in northeast Syria is "a lot more than" the approximately 200 troops Trump agreed to keep in the country in 2019.
    Hopefully Trump's DoD appointees will keep on top of things to prevent any further acts of insubordination.


    Since then, the US has kept some 900 troops scattered across several bases. Syrian officials have repeatedly accused the Pentagon of "stealing" the country's oil reserves from provinces in the northeast, where American forces have been embedded with Kurdish militia groups.


    Comment: Not only is the oil being stolen, it's being channeled to Israel through the U.S. Kurdish proxies parked in northeastern Syria together with NATO member Türkiye. What a sweet racket.

    Israel is secretly buying Kurdish oil through Turkey - Similar channel was used for ISIS oil


    Earlier this month, Syrian opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadists launched a surprise offensive across the country, capturing Damascus and forcing Assad to resign as president and seek asylum in Russia.

    On Friday, Washington sent a delegation to Damascus for the first time since 2012, and announced it will no longer offer a $10 million bounty for the HTS leader.
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