© AP Photo / Arab 24 network
A column of US troops has returned to northeastern Syria's al-Hasakah Province from Iraq, Syria TV reports.
The news outlet claimed that "the column of American occupation forces entered [...] the province through the illegal al-Walid border crossing" and that the column, which includes "dozens of soldiers and military hardware" is covered by US combat helicopters.
This comes a day after US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said that the US would maintain a "reduced presence" in Syria, citing concerns about Daesh terrorists taking control of nearby oil fields.
Almost two weeks ago, Esper pledged that the US would withdraw all of its force of 1,000 soldiers from northeastern Syria, after Turkey launched its military operation in the area to drive Kurdish militias and remaining Daesh militants away from the border.
Russia Concerned Over US Military Returning to Northern Syria
Commenting on Esper's statement that some US troops will remain in north-eastern Syria, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the statement did not come as a surprise.
"What Washington does now - the capture and holding under its armed control of oil fields in Eastern Syria is, simply speaking, international state banditism," he stressed, adding that Syrian oil reserves and other mineral resources belong solely to the Syrian Arab Republic, not to Daesh or to "American protectors from Daesh terrorists".
He also said that "neither international law, nor the American legislation itself can justify the US troops' goal to guard Syrian hydrocarbon reserves from Syria itself and its people."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggested that the fresh contradictory signals the US has sent regarding Syria may indicate Washington's desire to maintain conditions that allow for continued pressure on Damascus.
"We are very definitely worried that the signals from the White House may reflect the same attitude: to preserve the conditions for continuing multi-component pressure on the legitimate authorities in Damascus", he pointed out, adding that "this is the moment we don't agree and we can't agree with the United States on the situation."
He said that Moscow "would not like new complications" on the Syria issue, touting the work that "has been done at the level of the leadership of Russia and Turkey in recent days."
"The results of the negotiations in Sochi should not tempt anyone to reformat or change something again," Ryabkov emphasised.
Comment: Try as he might, Trump cannot get out of Syria. He's being subverted at every turn by his advisers and the military-intelligence services. It sounds like they really do want Americans to be there for the next '400 years'.