--- title: U.S. to Deploy Special Operations Forces in Syria description: Officials announce U.S. will deploy military forces to Syria. canonical: https://time.com/4094256/us-military-syria/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-30T15:02:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:13:37.603Z article:section: Politics og:title: U.S. to Deploy Special Operations Forces in Syria, Official Says og:description: The move is described as a "shift" but not a "change" in strategy against ISIS og:url: https://time.com/4094256/us-military-syria/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb941568b6cc659f/69886edfcd1bbae3506fddee/ash-ashton-carter1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Testifies On Middle East Middle East Policy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. to Deploy Special Operations Forces in Syria, Official Says twitter:description: The move is described as a "shift" but not a "change" in strategy against ISIS twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb941568b6cc659f/69886edfcd1bbae3506fddee/ash-ashton-carter1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. to Deploy Special Operations Forces in Syria, Official Says by [Richard Engel, Kristen Welker and Cassandra Vinograd / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Richard Engel, Kristen Welker and Cassandra Vinograd / NBC News Oct 30, 2015 3:02 PM UTC  Ashton Carter speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the U.S. military strategy in the Middle East in Washington on Oct. 27, 2015. Ashton Carter speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the U.S. military strategy in the Middle East in Washington on Oct. 27, 2015.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Richard Engel, Kristen Welker and Cassandra Vinograd / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Richard Engel, Kristen Welker and Cassandra Vinograd / NBC News Oct 30, 2015 3:02 PM UTC The White House will announce Friday that a small number of U.S. special operations forces will be sent into Syria, according to a senior U.S. official. The senior U.S. official said that the forces will be stationed in northern Syria and working alongside groups with a proven track record of fighting ISIS. The move will be described as a “shift” but not a “change” in U.S. strategy against ISIS, the official added. That could include Kurdish force and allied groups who have come together under the umbrella of the “Syrian Democratic Forces,” according to the official, who spoke on condition… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-deploy-special-operations-forces-syria-official-n454506?cid=par-time%5F20151030) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4094256/us-military-syria/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4094256/us-military-syria/"},"headline":"U.S. to Deploy Special Operations Forces in Syria, Official Says","datePublished":"2015-10-30T15:02:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:13:37.603Z","description":"The move is described as a \"shift\" but not a \"change\" in strategy against ISIS","url":"https://time.com/4094256/us-military-syria/","keywords":["Military","Syria","World","conflict"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb941568b6cc659f/69886edfcd1bbae3506fddee/ash-ashton-carter1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Engel, Kristen Welker and Cassandra Vinograd / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb941568b6cc659f/69886edfcd1bbae3506fddee/ash-ashton-carter1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Testifies On Middle East Middle East Policy","caption":"Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Testifies On Middle East Middle East Policy","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","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/4094256/us-military-syria/","name":"U.S. to Deploy Special Operations Forces in Syria, Official Says"}}]}] ```