US President Barack Obama has signed off on the deployment of an additional 250 US military personnel to Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The plans will be announced Monday in Hanover, Germany, as Obama concludes a week-long overseas trip, according to the report, which quoted unidentified US officials.
The expansion would increase the total number of US military personnel operating on the ground inside Syria from 50 to about 300.
The additional military personnel would help local forces fighting Daesh following recent gains against the militant group.
According to the Journal, a senior administration official said Obama agreed to deploy the additional US military personnel to Syria after being persuaded by his top military advisers and others that they would allow the Pentagon to make even more progress toward the goal of degrading and destroying Daesh.
One of their main tasks would be to try to get more Sunni Arabs to join the fight alongside Kurdish units in north-eastern Syria, the report said. They would be needed to help clear and hold Arab-dominated communities in and around the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, the report said, adding that the additional 250 personnel will include special operations forces and support personnel.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter announced last week that the US will deploy an additional 217 troops to Iraq to assist in the fight against the Daesh extremist militia.
The deployment, which according to US media will include special forces, will bring the total number of US soldiers in Iraq to 4,087.
