According to U.S. officials, the White House will announce Friday that the Pentagon is sending a small number of special operations forces to Syria to help advise Syrian opposition in the fight against ISIS.

This will be the first time U.S. special operations forces have been on the ground in Syria. NBC News reports that President Obama has ordered around 50 special operations forces to be deployed and work with the rebel group named the Syrian Arab Coalition. The U.S. troops will not be on the frontlines, but instead will be providing assistance, advice, and training. A strategy similar to the one the U.S. is currently using in Iraq.

“We have been focused on intensifying elements of our strategy that have been working, while also moving away from elements of our approach that have proven less effective,” the official explained.

The Obama administration has been continuously criticized on their various strategies to try and combat ISIS. The current airstrikes strategy has yielded mixed results, and recently, the Pentagon decided to abandon a failed program that was training and equipping Syrian rebels.

While the change in strategy has seen a lot of speculation, a source told ABC News that the administration has stated that “we have no intention of engaging in long-term, large-scale combat operations the likes of which we previously saw in Iraq and Afghanistan.”