we do not celebrate death ever even if it s a terrorist. step four, yes. celebration no. we have entered syria to protect the oil fields. barbara starr is reporting there s confusion over what the plan is. is that acceptable? well, what the commanders routinely do on the ground, absent orders from above at least if they understand what the intent is. if the intent is to, quote, guard oil fields to ensure that the oil fields can maintain their production levels, that they can maintain normal operations, then what you do is you facilitate that. that s a mission statement that has some implied steps that are necessary in order to accomplish that. what might be unclear is what are the potential threats as a result. so you work through scenarios in
syria to patrol formerly kurdish areas. with u.s. troops completely out of the picture now, and another apparent change of plan. president trump tweeting about bringing soldiers back home, his defense secretary saying they will be redirected to guard oil fields. nbc s erin mcloughlin is one of our reporters in the region and joins me from turkey. is there any more clarity on the plan for u.s. troops in syria? hey frances, well it s still in the planning stages, we understand from a u.s. defense officials, that it would be troops in the hundreds, deployed to eastern syria to guard oilfields and what the defense secretary says is the next phase of the operation against isis. take a listen. the united states will maintain and reduce presence in syria to deny isis access to oil revenue as a reposition of the these phase of the defeat isis
details to strengthen our position at dar ezar. to deny isis access. the u.s. is considering sending armored vehicles, including tanks to guard the oil fields, possibly a sign that military leaders are concerned about a confrontation with adversaries more heavily armed than isis. including russia or the syrian regime who hold the area bordering those oil fields. guarding oil is a departure from the longstanding u.s. mission in the region. which is partnering with syrian democratic forces to defeat isis. after the with withdrawal of most u.s. troops this month, the kurdish sdf are left to fight isis alone. the u.s. partnering with them, only to guard the oil fields in their region. frances, u.s. military officials here in the region insist their mission continues to be to defeat isis. but they re going about it a different way. with this new mission.