Capping off a week of widely criticized comments from members of the Trump administration about emerging White House plans to use U.S. troops to control oil fields in northeastern Syria, Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed Friday that the Pentagon is working to “strengthen” U.S. military presence in the region.

“This will only put U.S. troops in harm’s way and increase the likelihood of conflict with the Syrian regime and Russian or Iranian forces.”
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Using an acronym for the Islamic State group, Esper said during a press conference in Brussels Friday that “we are now taking some actions… to strengthen our position at Deir al-Zor, to ensure that we can deny ISIS access to the oil fields.” The defense secretary disclosed that such actions will include sending some kind of armored vehicles.

“We are reinforcing that position, it will include some mechanized forces,” Esper said. “Again I’m not going to get into the details but the mission in Syria remains what the mission in Syria began with, it’s always been about defeating the ISIS coalition.”

Esper did not disclose how many U.S. troops are currently in northeast Syria—following a withdrawal of some personnel in the region due to a Turkish incursion—or how many more forces will be deployed to guard the region’s oil fields. However, Newsweek reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed senior Pentagon official,

Friday’s press conference came after Esper said Monday that the Pentagon was considering keeping U.S. forces near the oil fields to help the SDF “deny access, specifically revenue, to ISIS and any other groups that may want to seek that revenue to enable their own malign activities,” and President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a “small number of U.S. troops will remain in the area where they have the oil.”

Trump has framed the withdrawal of some U.S. troops in northeast Syria earlier this month that enabled a deadly Turkish incursion targeting the region’s Kurdish population as part of his supposed effort to end “endless wars” and claimed that he “saved the lives of many, many Kurds” by negotiating a “ceasefire.”

Notably, Esper’s press conference Friday happened in the same hour that Trump tweeted: “Oil is secured. Our soldiers have left and are leaving Syria for other places, then […] COMING HOME! We were supposed to be there for 30 days—That was 10 years ago. When these pundit fools who have called the Middle East wrong for 20 years ask what we are getting out of the deal, I simply say, THE OIL, AND WE ARE BRINGING OUR SOLDIERS BACK HOME, ISIS SECURED!”