The Pentagon announced the US currently has “approximately 2,000” troops in Syria, more than double the previously disclosed number of 900, a Defense Department spokesperson said at a press briefing on Thursday.

U.S. diplomats visiting Damascus held Washington's first in-person official meetings with Syria's new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Friday and discussed with the former al Qaeda affiliate the future of Syria's political transition.

It was the first public meeting between U.S. diplomats and al-Sharaa, who led the Syrian revolution that toppled the Assad regime.