The United States has drafted a plan to send troops and tanks to guard eastern oil fields in Syria after withdrawing from the country's north, Newsweek has learned.
A senior Pentagon official told Newsweek on Wednesday that the United States is seeking, and is awaiting, the approval of the White House to deploy half a battalion of the Army's armored brigade combat team, which includes more than 30 Abrams tanks along with personnel east of Syria.
They are expected to be deployed where the lucrative oil fields are controlled by a largely Kurdish force involved in the US-led war against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).
The official told Newsweek that deploying the new tanks would have a combined purpose to keep ISIS as well as the Syrian government, Iran and their allied militias away from the eastern oil fields.
Otherwise, Trump chose to retreat swiftly in a move that initially angered Kurdish fighters in the region and forced them to strike a deal with the Syrian government in hopes of avoiding invasion.
The US condemned Turkey's decision and immediately reached a five-day cease-fire agreement that was eventually followed by a more comprehensive agreement reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Previous reports have suggested that the Syrian Democratic Forces have entered into agreements to sell oil to the Syrian government.
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