And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, an about-face. The White House announcing today that American forces will be deployed to Syria. It's a reversal from a president who has promised there will be no combat troops in that country. Up to 50 special operations forces will be headed to Syria and that could be just the start. Here's what happened when our Jim Acosta pressed White House Spokesman Josh Earnest on that point today.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So it's possible that there could be further deployments?
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Well, Jim, I don't want to try to predict the future here.
BURNETT: Leaving the door open for more deployments, a major admission since President Obama and his team have promised again and again and again that U.S. Forces will never go to Syria.
PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: Again, I repeat, I will not considering any boots on the ground approach. I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria. I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan.
BURNETT: It doesn't get more direct than that. The deployment of troops to Syria coming as President Obama has 3,500 troops in Iraq. A number that has surged from his initial force of 300 so-called military advisers. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon tonight to be in our coverage. And Barbara, the White House says, these forces won't have a combat mission. They are going into a massive warzone though. And they're going to engage if they are under fire. That's combat, isn't it?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: By any measure when you talk to people in uniform, Erin. Good evening. It's all supposed to start very small, as you pointed out, but here at the Pentagon, behind the scenes tonight, they are already talking about the possibility indeed. The mission may grow again. STARR (voice-over): President Obama secretly told Defense Secretary Ash Carter weeks ago he wanted faster progress in the war against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq and to come up with a plan, a U.S. official tells CNN. Now the President has ordered a small number of Special Operations Forces into Northern Syria to help local forces fight ISIS.
EARNEST: The President does expect that they can have an impact in intensifying our strategy for building the capacity of local forces inside of Syria to taking the fight on the ground to ISIL.
STARR: The teams, less than 50 troops, could include members of the army's elite Delta Force, Green Berets and Navy SEALs. Their mission? To provide ammunitions, communications, intelligence and supplies to local Arab and Kurdish Forces on the ground. The danger, they could wind up coming under fire from ISIS fighters. Until now, the President have long said he would not put troops in combat, especially in Syria.
OBAMA: I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria -- American boots on the ground in Syria would not only be good for America but also would be good for Syria. STARR: And the White House insists that is still true.
