US to send additional military assets to control oil fields in Syria: reports

WASHINGTON - The United States would send additional military assets to eastern Syria to enforce the control of the oil fields in the region, US media reported Thursday.

Citing a defense official, CNN reported that the United States "is committed to reinforcing our position, in coordination with our SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) partners, in northeast Syria with additional military assets to prevent those oil fields from falling back into the hands of ISIS (the Islamic State, or the IS) or other destabilizing actors."

USA Today, also citing a US official, wrote in a piece Thursday that the Pentagon is preparing to send tanks and armored vehicles to Syrian oil fields.

The deployment of heavy armor to Syria would represent a significant escalation in the fight, requiring a contingent of additional troops to operate and maintain the vehicles, as well as forces to protect their bases, the piece said.

"We will NEVER let a reconstituted ISIS have those fields!" US President Donald Trump tweeted early Thursday.

Despite Trump's consistent call for bringing US troops back home from Syria, Trump announced in his Wednesday remarks that the United States would still keep a limited military presence in parts of Syria to protect oil fields.

The Washington Post wrote on Monday that roughly 200 troops would remain in the oil-producing area of Syria, with a task to keep oil fields out of the hands of the IS and prevent them from being claimed by the Syrian government.