United States to send 400 additional soldiers including Marines and Rangers to Syria 1103172.

Recently, U.S. Marines attached to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit were deployed in Syria with M777 howitzers to establish an artillery base. Some few days ago, U.S. troops with Stryker 8x8 armoured vehicles were seen around the city of Manbij in the Aleppo Governorate, Syria.

U.S.-backed Syrian forces said on Thursday, March 9, 2017, they were closing in on Islamic State-held Raqqa and expected to reach the city outskirts in a few weeks with the collaboration of U.S. troops.

Coalition spokesman U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian said the additional U.S. forces would be working with local partners in Syria - the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Arab Coalition - and would not have a front line role.

According U.S. military spokesman, around 500 U.S. soldiers are already deployed in Syria and 400 additional soldiers have arrived in recent days including U.S. Marines and Rangers.

The American forces have been deployed since several months in Afghanistan and Iraq to fight Islmaic terrorist groups, but now with US troops on the ground in Syria, the pentagon shows its willingness to open a new front in Syria.