US to increase Syria presence to protect oil: Pentagon

Move to protect oil fields there from being retaken by a potentially resurgent Daesh

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A Syrian Kurdish fighter patrols on a hill overlooking a huge oil field near the village of Derik, Syria, July 30, 2015.
NYT

Washington: The US Defence Department said Thursday it planned to beef up its presence in the northeast corner of Syria to protect oil fields there from being retaken by a potentially resurgent Daesh.

“The US is committed to reinforcing our position, in coordination with our SDF partners, in northeast Syria with additional military assets to prevent those oil fields from falling back to into the hands of [Daesh] or other destabilizing actors,” a defence official said in a statement.