Major General Patrick Ryder, the Biden administration’s Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Thursday that there are approximately 2,000 U.S. soldiers in Syria. This is more than double the number of American troops deployed in that country than had earlier been announced.

“Given that this number is significantly higher than what we’ve been briefing, I wanted to let you know as soon as I found out this information,” Ryder added. 

Ryder ascribed the error to the presence in Syria of 900 “core” personnel, in comparison to 1,100 “temporary rotational forces,” who are only in theater for a limited amount of time, usually 30 to 90 days.

Ryder also noted that this number of personnel deployed in Syria fluctuates significantly.