In another about-turn, Trump said to favour leaving a few hundred troops in eastern Syria

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is leaning in favour of a new Pentagon plan to keep a small contingent of US troops in eastern Syria, perhaps numbering about 200, to combat the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and block the advance of Syrian government and Russian forces into the region's coveted oil fields, a senior administration official said.

Trump has come under withering criticism from former military commanders, Democrats and even some of his staunchest Republican allies for pulling back US troops from Syria's border with Turkey, clearing the way for a Turkish offensive that in nearly two weeks has killed scores of Syrian Kurdish fighters and civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands of residents.

The senior administration official suggested that the president was balancing competing impulses: achieving the ultimate goal of bringing US forces home from Syria - part of a signature campaign promise to pull US troops from"endless wars" - and ensuring that efforts to contain and diminish ISIS continue. The order also could be heard as at least a partial answer to those who have criticised the president's policy.

Erdogan called Trump on Oct. 6 for the express purpose of informing him that Turkish forces planned to cross the border, the official said, and Trump made it clear to him that it was not a good idea - and did not endorse the attack. Trump followed up on Oct. 9 with a now-infamous letter to Erdogan. "After defeating 100% of the ISIS Caliphate, I largely moved our troops out of Syria. Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land. I said to my Generals, why should we be fighting for Syria and Assad to protect the land of our enemy?" Trump said in another Twitter message on Oct. 14.

The proposal to keep a counter-terrorism force in eastern Syria resulted from the Defence Department directing the military's Central Command in recent days to provide options for continuing the fight against Islamic State forces in Syria.

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