US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday that President Donald Trump's administration is considering keeping a small group of US troops in northeastern Syria, near the Kurdish-controlled oil fields, a risky proposal that came as a surprise to many officials. After President Trump spent the past two weeks, he confirmed that US forces in the region would return home.

Since Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from the Turkish-Syrian border on October 6, paving the way for a Turkish attack on the Kurds in northern Syria, many officials have proposed retaining a few hundred US troops to fight ISIS, and maintaining a relationship with the SDF. It is led by the Kurds, a senior administration official told Foreign Policy. Under the proposal, air strikes against IS would continue from Iraq, the official said. But the plan did not include anything to protect the oil fields in the Kurdish region, and prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from taking control of these fields.

But Trump began his tweets last week about "securing oil" in northern Syria, sowing the seeds of confusion among analysts, who are trying to deal with the consequences of withdrawing US troops from northern Syria and abandoning Kurdish allies. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham spoke of a similar idea at the end of last week that a group of US soldiers could protect Kurdish-controlled oil fields.

While in Afghanistan on Monday, Minister Esber said in his comments that such a group of troops could help the United States continue fighting ISIS terrorists and protect oil fields. But it was unclear at the time whether the United States was trying to prevent IS, the Syrian government, Russia, and even Iran from seizing oil fields.

The survival of a few hundred US troops in Syria, facing many threats, is "a major threat," experts said. "It's hard to believe how a group of American soldiers will fight ISIS," said Dana Stroll, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "They are busy all the time defending themselves against many dangers." She added that such a plan could face rejection by Congress, which did not authorize the US military to protect oil in Syria.

Interest in oil

Many believe that the Pentagon plan is intended to keep a few US troops in the region, after Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria. Trump has for years opposed the US military presence in the Middle East, but is interested in oil in the region. Trump has repeatedly called on the US government to seize Iraqi oil after the 2003 invasion. “It is possible that maintaining the US presence in the oilfields could provide a cover for the task of continuing the fight against terrorism in Iraq,” said Professor Michael Sharnoff of the National Defense University for Strategic Studies. But this small group of soldiers has not been identified, and it remains a subject of debate at the Pentagon.

Esber suggested that US forces could stay near oil fields in northeastern Syria for at least a few weeks, to prevent IS from taking advantage of oil revenues to fund its war. "We have troops near the oilfields and they are not ready to withdraw," Esber said. The aim of these forces is to work with the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Forces, and to prevent the arrival of (ISIS) oil fields.

Matthew Reid, deputy chairman of the Energy Advisory Council, reports that the fields are still in the hands of the Kurds and are not threatened. Largely destroyed during the fighting years.

The Syrian government may want to reclaim these fields, although they are of little value at the moment, and US troops stationed near these fields could act as a deterrent to anyone considering taking them, but it is not yet clear where the troops will be stationed. And how long it will connect.

No benefit

For the Kurds, only a handful of US soldiers who will remain in northern Syria can offer little help. The United States could provide air support against ISIS, but it would not help protect the Kurds from air strikes by the Turkish military. The Russians are likely to refuse to provide Kurdish airspace against the Turks if the United States remains, one Kurdish adviser to the Syrian Democratic Council said. "If these 200 soldiers, or the like, are not under fully guaranteed protection, they will be a burden for the Kurds, and they will not provide any help," he said.

betrayal

In any case, the survival of a small group of US soldiers, working alongside the SDF to protect oil fields from IS or the Syrian government, may not be convincing, especially after the Trump administration's betrayal of the Kurds last week. "If the SDF believes that the United States could abandon it for Turkey or other interests, these forces could do everything they can to distance themselves from the United States and move towards an alliance with the Syrian government, which has announced that it will regain full territory," Sharnov said. In the end, including those oil fields.

At the same time, US troops leaving Syria will be stationed elsewhere in the region before being sent home, according to Colonel Miles Cagens, a spokesman for the international coalition fighting IS. He stressed that these forces will focus on fighting IS.

Esber appears to have retracted his comments, saying that most of those troops from Syria would be sent to Iraq, and said in a tweet that they would be re-stationed in "an area outside Syria until their return home," but a senior administration official confirmed that These soldiers will be sent to Iraq. During this period, fighting between Kurds and Turkish-backed forces stopped. A convoy of medical aid and a charity organization finally entered the weekend to Ras al-Ain to evacuate the wounded civilians, who had been trapped for several days by shelling from Turkish-backed forces.

Lara Selgman, Keith Johnson: Two writers for Foreign Policy

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Providing a cover for the task can continue to fight

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There is a debate in the Pentagon.

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They will be a burden

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