1st LD: U.S. to send military advisers to help fight Islamic State in Syria

The White House on Friday confirmed that the United States will send less than 50 Special Operations troops to northern Syria to act as military advisers and help local forces fight the Islamic State (IS).

"There -- the less than 50 number is accurate. I cannot be more specific than that, primarily for reasons related to Operational Security," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in response to question about the U.S. plan widely reported on the U.S. media.

Those U.S. troops "do not have a combat mission" and their major task is to build capacity of local moderate opposition forces fighting the IS militants by offering some training and advising assistance, the spokesman said.

He stressed that despite the plan to deploy U.S. troops on the ground in Syria for the first time, the U.S. strategy in fighting the IS in Syria has not changed.

"The first is, you've heard the President (Obama) on many occasions discussed our strategy in Syria. And the fact is, our strategy in Syria hasn't changed," Earnest said.

This will be the first time that U.S. troops are deployed on the ground in Syria, where large swaths of territory have been controlled by the IS. Endit