Washington [US], December 20 (ANI): Approximately, 2,000 American troops are currently deployed to Syria, up from the previously reported 1,100, the Department of Defense (DoD) has announced.

"We have been briefing [the media] regularly that there are approximately 900 U.S. troops in Syria," Pentagon Spokesperson Pat Ryder told reporters on Thursday.

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"These forces, which augment the defeat-ISIS (Islamic State, banned in Russia) mission, were there before the fall of the Assad regime," Ryder said.

Ryder did not specify the type of troops that arrived in Syria to fight the Islamic State, describing them as "temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements, whereas the core 900 deployers are on longer-term deployments."

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He explained that such fluctuations in numbers of personnel are often quite common, and that the additional forces have been in place since before the December 8 downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

At the briefing Ryder said the Defence Department is prepared to continue carrying out its mission despite the potential for a partial government shutdown beginning Saturday.

On November 27, Syria's armed opposition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a large-scale offensive against government forces in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.

By December 7, President Bashar Assad's opponents had seized several major cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, and Homs.

On December 8, they entered Damascus, forcing the army to withdraw from the capital subsequently Assad resigned and left the country.

It led to the end of more than 50 years of the al-Assad family's iron-fist rule over SyriaOn December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir announced his appointment as head of Syria's interim government until March 1, 2025. (ANI)

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