US will leave part of its military near oil fields in Syria

According to RIA Novosti, Esper explained this decision by the US desire to prevent the militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization * from taking control of this area.

“The process of withdrawing American troops will take weeks, not several days, some of them will remain in villages adjacent to the oil fields in northeast Syria in order to prevent the possibility of the arrival of the IS group and others to use these resources,” he said.

The Pentagon chief made a statement during his speech at a press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul.

Esper previously reported that the United States is deploying about 1,000 troops from Syria to Iraq to fight IG *.

On October 7, American leader Donald Trump, speaking about the situation in Syria, said that the time had come for the United States to "get out of endless wars" and return its soldiers home.

* “Islamic State” (IG) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.