During the presidential debate on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris made a statement that suggested there are no U.S. military personnel currently serving in overseas combat zones, which is not accurate.

“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, for the first time this century,” Harris stated.

This assertion is misleading.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, there are approximately 1,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria and around 2,500 in Iraq. In Syria, these forces are there to help prevent the Islamic State group from making a comeback. Their role in Iraq is similar, as they also aim to counteract Iran’s influence and its supply routes to different militia groups.

While the major conflicts in Syria and Iraq have somewhat diminished, both countries continue to experience ongoing low-level violence.

A recent instance highlighting the danger faced by U.S. troops involved a military raid led by U.S. forces in Iraq at the end of August, resulting in the death of at least 15 Islamic State operatives who resisted with various weapons, including grenades and explosive belts. Seven U.S. soldiers sustained injuries during this operation.

In another incident in January, three U.S. soldiers were killed, and 40 were injured in Jordan when their base near the Syrian border was attacked by a drone believed to be manufactured by Iran.

The U.S. forces present in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan participate in Operations called “Inherent Resolve,” which is a global coalition initiative. Currently, ongoing discussions between the U.S. and Iraq may lead to the withdrawal of several hundred American troops from Iraq as soon as September next year. The last of the U.S. troops left Afghanistan in 2021.

Since the war began in Gaza, the Pentagon has deployed “defensive military capabilities,” including troops, equipment, and warships, to the Middle East, anticipating a possible attack by Iran on Israel, in addition to responding to threats from Houthi rebels in Yemen targeting international vessels in the Red Sea.

On a larger scale, as of 2023, around 170,000 American troops are stationed outside the U.S. across more than 800 military bases, according to the Pentagon and David Vine, an expert on U.S. military matters at American University. Nearly a quarter-century after the U.S. initiated its response to the events of September 11, the Pentagon continues to conduct military operations in the Middle East, Africa, and several other regions that many Americans may not be aware of, as indicated by exclusive data revealed last year by YSL News.

This information derives from research conducted by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute.

The findings span the initial three years of the Biden administration and highlight the broad range of operations where U.S. troops have, often in secrecy, been engaged in direct combat, conducted drone strikes, patrolled borders, collected intelligence, and trained foreign military and security personnel.