![\"last](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/last-convoy-out-of-Iraq.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nThe Hill<\/a> reports that former CIA Director General Michael Hayden predicted on Fox News Sunday that there would be five-thousand troops on the ground in Iraq by the end of the year.<\/p>\n Hayden explained he doesn\u2019t think they will be \u201ccombat maneuver units,\u201d but predicted U.S. special operations forces could wind up on the ground in Syria. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we will at some point. It might be through covert action rather than more overt activity,\u201d he said. \u201cI actually think we will end up with small American special operations forces active within this broad theater in Syria and Iraq.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n So our third deployment of troops to deal with Iraq, is becoming quite an event, isn’t it? <\/p>\n An unnamed Air Force officer told USAToday <\/a>that airstrikes in Syria will require “boots on the ground” in that country; <\/p>\n The spy planes flying missions over Iraq and Syria can develop a list of potential Islamic State targets, said the commander who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe what the war might look like. But it’s “absolutely crucial that pilots are talking to an American on the ground” who can verify that the target is legitimate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n