US officials: Up to 250 troops headed to Syria

Associated Press

AERZEN, GERMANY

President Barack Obama will send an additional 250 military personnel to Syria to help local forces fighting the Islamic State group, increasing to 300 the number of U.S. forces battling extremists in the war-torn country, administration officials confirmed Sunday.

Obama is expected to announce his decision today during a speech in Hannover, Germany, at the close of a weeklong trip, where IS was a focus of his meetings with world leaders in Saudi Arabia, Great Britain and Germany.

The move will significantly increase the U.S. presence in Syria and comes a week after Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the deployment of a similar number of troops to Iraq, where Islamic State militants also control territory.

About 50 U.S. special operations forces are already operating in Syria. Most of the additional 250 personnel will also be special operations forces, largely Army Green Berets.

In Damascus, Syria, airstrikes and shelling pounded Aleppo for a third-straight day Sunday, killing two young siblings and at least 24 others in Syria’s largest city and former commercial capital.

At least 10 people were killed by rebel shelling on government-held areas in the city, according to activists and Syria’s state news agency, SANA. Rockets struck schools and residential areas, SANA reported.