Ho Ho Ho: More Than 4500 troops Are Spending Christmas in Iraq and Syria
Jeff Schogol from Task & Purpose 7:00 PM | December 23, 2024
Once again, the Pentagon has acknowledged that its footprint in the Middle East is bigger than it has claimed for years. In fact, after years of claiming that the total number of service members deployed to Iraq and Syria was about 3,400, the Pentagon acknowledged this week that 4,500 U.S. troops are in the two countries this holiday season.
U.S. military officials had long claimed that 900 American troops were deployed to Syria and another 2,500 were in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led mission to defeat the Islamic State group, or ISIS.
But Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said last week that the true number of US troops in Syria is close to 2,000. Monday, Ryder confirmed that more than 2,500 U.S. troops are deployed to Iraq, although he did not specify the exact number.
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/12/23/ho-ho-ho-more-than-4500-troops-are-spending-christmas-in-iraq-and-syria-n3798175#google_vignette
