Kamala Harris was wrong when she said there are no U.S. troops in combat zones

During Tuesday’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, Harris inaccurately made it sound as though there are no U.S. soldiers deployed in overseas conflict zones.

"And as of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, the first time this century," Harris said.

That's not quite true.

The U.S. maintains nearly 1,000 troops on bases in Syria and another 2,500 in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. In Syria, U.S. troops are stationed to help prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group. They play a similar role in Iraq, where they also help disrupt Iran's influence and supply lines to various militias.

Major civil war hostilities in both Syria and Iraq have gradually eased but both places are mired in low-level conflict.

One example of how U.S. troops are in harm's way overseas: On the last day of August, a U.S. military-led raid in western Iraq killed at least 15 Islamic State group "operatives" who fought back with numerous weapons including grenades and explosive "suicide" belts. Seven U.S. soldiers were injured during the operation.

And in January, three U.S. soldiers were killed and 40 more injured in nearby Jordan when the base they were on close to Syria's border came under attack by an Iranian-made drone.

U.S. military personnel in Syria, Iraq and Jordan serve there as part of a global coalition that's known as Operation Inherent Resolve. The U.S. and Iraq are currently negotiating terms that could see several hundred, or more, U.S. troops leave Iraq as early as September next year. The U.S. withdrew its remaining troops from Afghanistan in 2021.

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Meanwhile, since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the Pentagon has sent what it's called "defensive military capabilities" ? troops, equipment, war ships ? to the Middle East in anticipation of a possible Iranian attack on Israel, and as Houthi rebels in Yemen have targeted international ships in the Red Sea, a commercial waterway.

More broadly, as of 2023 there were about 170,000 American troops stationed outside the U.S. on upwards of 800 U.S. military bases, according to data from the Pentagon and David Vine, an anthropologist and expert on the U.S. military at American University. And nearly a quarter-century after the U.S. launched its response to 9/11, the Pentagon continues to pursue military actions in the Middle East, Africa and in many more parts of the world than Americans may realize, according to exclusive data obtained by USA TODAY, and published last year.

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The data comes from research by the Costs of War project at Brown University's Watson Institute.

The findings covered the first three years of the Biden administration and showed the range of globe-spanning operations where U.S. troops have, often in secret, engaged in direct combat, launched drone attacks, patrolled borders, gathered intelligence and trained other nations' militaries and security forces.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kamala Harris incorrectly said there's no U.S. troops in combat zones