US President Donald Trump has said the ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish forces in Syria has held despite some skirmishes, and he does not want to keep any US troops there, but added that a limited number of troops would remain.
Trump told reporters at the White House during a meeting of his administration that the "limited number" of US troops would be deployed in a completely different part of Syria, near its border with Jordan and Israel, stressing that another group of soldiers would "protect oil."
"I always said if we were to withdraw, let us protect the oil," he said.
"We have not pledged to stay 400 years"
Regarding the ceasefire in northern Syria, the US president said the Kurds are "leaving intelligently" in Syria. ".
But he also stressed that his country would impose sanctions on Turkey "if it misbehaves" in Syria.
Trump's comments came a day before a deadline set for the withdrawal of Kurdish units from areas in northern Syria under a Turkish-US agreement led to the suspension of the operation "spring of peace" launched by the Turkish army with the participation of Syrian opposition forces on October 9.
The military operation was suspended last Thursday, and the deadline is due to expire on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and senior Turkish officials said the military operation would resume if Kurdish units did not withdraw from the "safe area" in northern Syria.
Washington announced on October 13 the withdrawal of about a thousand troops from Syria, five days after the start of the Turkish attack on Kurdish fighters. On the seventh of the same month, the withdrawal of a limited number of US soldiers paved the way for the Turkish military operation.