White House agrees to keep Syria troops

WASHINGTON, Mar 06 (Xinhua): US President Donald Trump responded to lawmakers that he fully agrees on keeping US forces in Syria, US media reported on Tuesday.

A bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives wrote to Trump on Feb. 22, praising his decision to keep a small group of troops in Syria as a stabilizing force.

A copy of the letter obtained by NBC News showed that Trump highlighted a paragraph about the objectives of U.S. continued presence in Syria.

"I agree 100%. ALL is being done," Trump wrote on the letter with his signature.

The White House on Feb. 21 announced that the United States would leave about 200 troops in Syria after the planned pullout. Trump confirmed the next day that a small fraction of US forces would remain in Syria with troops from other countries.

Citing a senior administration official, the media later reported that the US military would leave about 400 troops in two different regions of Syria.

According to the official, half of them would join the multinational force of roughly 800 to 1,500 troops deployed in northeastern Syria to maintain a buffer between Turkey and US-backed Kurdish forces.