US troop levels in Syria 'quite a bit lower' with help on the way

US troop levels in Syria 'quite a bit lower' with help on the way
US officials are touting a "measurable decrease" in the number of US troops in Syria, though they refuse to say just how many remain in the country to aid in the fight against remnants of the Islamic State terror group.

The director of the Pentagon's Defeat ISIS Task Force, Chris Maier, became the latest official to weigh in on troop levels, describing the withdrawal only in general terms.

"It's been a measurable decrease," he told reporters late Thursday. "The number of US  forces that are present now is quite a bit lower than when the drawdown began.

"US force numbers will continue to draw down as conditions continue to, we hope, improve," he added.

Maier's comments come just over a week after the US Special Representative for Syria, Ambassador James Jeffrey, told US lawmakers the number of troops in Syria was "considerably fewer" than it was in December, when President Donald Trump first announced forces they would be coming home. At the time, officials had said there were about 2,200 US forces in Syria still actively engaged in helping the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight to destroy the last vestiges of the terror group's self-declared caliphate.

The SDF declared victory over ISIS in late March and, since then, the number of US troops leaving Syria has accelerated, even as top US officials have assured allies that a residual force will remain.

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