The U.S. defense secretary says the U.S. is sending an additional 200 troops to Syria.
Ash Carter said Saturday the military personnel will be used to help drive Islamic State militants out of Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the terrorist group.
Carter said the 200 troops will include special forces trainers, advisers and explosive ordnance disposal teams.
Three hundred special operations forces are already in Syria.
Carter was speaking in Bahrain at the Manama Dialogue conference on Middle East security where he said Russia — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s top foreign military backer — had “only inflamed the civil war and prolonged suffering of the Syrian people.”
