Boots On The Ground: U.S. Forces In Syria

U.S. armored vehicles driving through Hajin, in eastern Syria, in December 2018. 

U.S. Marines firing a howitzer during fighting in northern Syria in March 2017. American troops have been operating inside Syria since early 2016. 

Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) chat with members of U.S. forces in the Syrian town of Al-Darbasiyah in April 2017. The stated U.S. mission in Syria includes training and advising rebel forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants. 

U.S. Marines pop a mortar towards an IS target in eastern Syria in October 2018. U.S. forces have also launched "kill or capture" missions targeting prominent IS leaders. 

U.S. soldiers in a house they converted into an outpost in northern Syria. The U.S. deployment currently stands at around 2,000 troops, up from just a few hundred in 2017.

U.S. soldiers inside a YPG base in northeastern Syria in April 2017. Four American service members have been killed since the Syrian operation began, most recently in March 2018 when an American and a British soldier were killed by an explosive. 

U.S. and Turkish forces conduct joint patrols on the outskirts of Manbij in November 2018. Syria is today an "ever congested" battle space, with U.S.-, Turkish-, Syrian-, Russian-, and Iranian-affiliated fighters all variously cooperating and clashing in the country. 

A U.S. military commander (right) with YPG fighters as they inspect the damage done to a YPG base after it was hit by Turkish air strikes. 

U.S. Marine howitzers pummel an IS position during the four-month battle for Raqqa, the de facto "capital" of the Islamic State group until the city was liberated in October 2017. 

A U.S military demining vehicle leads a convoy near Raqqa in July 2017. 

A U.S. base near Manbij in May 2018. The most infamous clash of the U.S. deployment came when hundreds of fighters aligned with the Syrian regime -- many of them Russian -- ​launched an attack on a Kurdish base with U.S. special forces inside... 

An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress refueling during a bombing mission over Syria in February 2017. After the regime-aligned forces attacked the Kurdish base, American aircraft and artillery were used to pummel the attackers. At least dozens were killed in the "inferno," including many Russian mercenaries.

A local flashes a "V for victory" sign at U.S. military vehicles near Al-Darbasiyah. According to the U.S. Defense Department, the coalition has recaptured around 90 percent of the territory once held by IS in Syria. 

A U.S. vehicle near Manbij in April 2018. On December 19, U.S. President Donald Trump declared it was time for American troops "to come back home." The statement led to a flurry of criticism that the move would embolden IS, with one Republican senator saying a withdrawal would be a mistake, claiming the Islamic State group has been "degraded" but not yet defeated.