US Muslim civil rights group condemns Pentagon for misleading public about number of American troops in Syria

​​​​​​​By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the US largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, condemned the Pentagon on Friday for misleading the public about the number of US troops deployed in Syria.

"The Pentagon’s admission that 2,000 U.S. troops have been secretly operating in Syria is stunning. The Biden administration must explain who made the decision to lie about the troop presence, why they lied, and how long these troops have been operating without congressional knowledge or authorization," CAIR said in a statement.

It urged President-Elect Donald Trump to fully withdraw US troops from Syria and to hand over "occupied territory to the newly-liberated Syrian people."

The Pentagon said Thursday that there are 2,000 US troops in Syria, more than double the number it had previously acknowledged.

Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in addition to the 900 troops that were deployed on a longer-term basis to aid in counter-Daesh/ISIS terror operations, 1,100 were sent on a "temporary" basis to help "meet shifting mission requirements" in the anti-Daesh/ISIS fight.

"A certain element of this also goes into diplomatic and operational security concerns as it relates to the region. But again, given the difference in the number that we've been providing, I made the decision to go ahead and give you that number," he told reporters.

The troops are predominantly conventional and special operations forces from the US Army.