Story highlights Additional US troops will include special operations forces, trainers and bomb disposal teams

They will work with fighters preparing for a final assault on ISIS' Syrian stronghold, Raqqa

Manama, Bahrain (CNN) Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Saturday the US would send up to 200 additional US troops to Syria to help train and assist US-backed local forces that are driving towards ISIS' self-declared capital in Raqqa, Syria.

"The United States will deploy approximately 200 additional US forces to Syria," Carter said, adding that the new contingent would include special operations forces, trainers, advisers, and explosive ordinance disposal teams.

"This latest commitment of additional forces within Syria is another important step in enabling our partners to deal ISIL a lasting defeat," Carter said, using the government's preferred acronym for the terror organization.

Carter made the announcement while speaking at the Manama Dialogue, a regional security summit hosted in the capital of the Gulf state of Bahrain.

The decision will nearly double the number of US troops authorized to operate in Syria. President Barack Obama had in April set a cap of 300 for the number of military advisers permitted in Syria, though the actual number of advisers on the ground is thought to be fewer than that.

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