--- ---  # U.S. Will Deploy Special Forces to Syria, White House Says  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Oct 30, 2015 5:34 PM UTC  Josh Earnest during a media briefing at the White House in Washington on Oct. 30, 2015. Josh Earnest during a media briefing at the White House in Washington on Oct. 30, 2015.Carlos Barria—Reuters  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Oct 30, 2015 5:34 PM UTC Around 50 U.S. special forces troops will begin deployments to northern Syria within days, Press Secretary Josh Earnest announced in a press conference early Friday afternoon. The troops will not have a combat mission in Syria, Earnest said, but a “mission to build the capacity of local forces” through training, advising and assisting moderate factions currently fighting ISIS. Though 50 troops is not a large mission, the U.S. has not had boots on the ground in Syria thus far. Even so Earnest described the move as a shift rather than a change in strategy against ISIS. “The fact is that our strategy in Syria hasn’t changed,” he said. “This is an intensification of a strategy that the president announced more than a year ago.” The special forces will work alongside local units in Syria that could include Kurdish and Arab forces who are currently fighting ISIS in the north. Earnest said there were a number of details he could not discuss publicly to ensure the safety of the special operations forces, including the exact number of troops who will be stationed in Syria and what precisely those troops will be doing. Friday’s announcement follows news that the first [U.S. soldier was killed](http://time.com/4083080/american-soldier-killed-iraq/) in Iraq during a raid on ISIS to free prisoners earlier this month. U.S. Troops Deployed to Syria ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4094510/us-deploy-troops-syria/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4094510/us-deploy-troops-syria/"},"headline":"U.S. Will Deploy Special Forces to Syria, White House Says","datePublished":"2015-10-30T17:34:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:13:57.609Z","description":"Under 50 U.S. troops will begin deployments to northern Syria within days, Press Secretary Josh Earnest announced in a press conference early Friday afternoon.","url":"https://time.com/4094510/us-deploy-troops-syria/","keywords":["Military","Barack Obama","Syria"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece2a825c7ca7d0f/69886ef4bc6cfc3be83da2bd/2015-10-30t171837z_1434442745_tb3ebau1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece2a825c7ca7d0f/69886ef4bc6cfc3be83da2bd/2015-10-30t171837z_1434442745_tb3ebau1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"White House spokesman Earnest makes announcement on Syria during White House briefing in Washington","caption":"White House spokesman Earnest makes announcement on Syria during White House briefing in Washington","creditText":"Carlos Barria—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4094510/us-deploy-troops-syria/","name":"U.S. Will Deploy Special Forces to Syria, White House Says"}}]}] ```