U.S. forces will soon be on the ground in Syria, a senior Obama administration official said Friday.
NBC News reported that the White House will announce Friday that it is sending U.S. special operations forces into Syria that will be stationed in the northern area of the country.
The special operations forces will work with groups who have been fighting the Islamic State (IS), which could include Kurdish forces and allied groups who fall under the title of "Syrian Democratic Forces."
The administration will label the decision a "shift" in the U.S. strategy against the terrorist group, not a "change."
The decision comes just days after Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that the U.S. would engage in "direct action on the ground" on Iraq and Syria in order to combat IS. Earlier this month, the Obama administration ended its $500 million Syrian rebel training program to fight the Islamic State in an acknowledgement of its failure.
Last week, the first U.S. servicemember to die in the fight against IS was killed during a prison raid in Iraq.