Donald Trump has said US troops he ordered to leave Syria will remain in the Middle East to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State threat.
The president made clear that the withdrawing troops will leave Syria entirely but confirmed in a written statement that they would be redeployed and remain in the region.
Mr Trump described their mission as "monitoring the situation" and preventing a "repeat of 2014," when IS fighters who had organised in Syria as a fighting force swept into neighbouring Iraq and took control of Iraq's north and west.
He also confirmed that the small number of US troops at a base in southern Syria will remain there.
Mr Trump said he is issuing new sanctions against Turkey, halting trade negotiations and raising steel tariffs in an effort to pressure Ankara to stop its ongoing offensive attack in Syria against Kurdish forces it views as a terrorist threat.
He will soon sign an executive order permitting sanctions to be imposed on current and former Turkish officials, Mr Trump said.
Before the invasion, Mr Trump ordered some US forces out of harm's way. Critics said the president’s decision gave Turkey a green light to go against the Kurds, who had helped the US battle Islamic State militants.
UN officials had said the latest fighting in northeast Syria is compounding an already dire humanitarian situation.
According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, at least 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the Turkish offensive began on October 9.
He said "most of the displaced are staying with relatives or host communities, but increasing numbers are arriving at collective shelters in the area."
Northeast Syria was already facing a humanitarian crisis before the Turkish offensive, with 1.8 million of the 3 million women, children and men in the region in need of assistance, "including over 910,000 in acute need," Mr Dujarric said.
He said there are also "heightened concerns" for vulnerable people in camps for the displaced, including al-Hol, a camp that holds some 68,000 people who fled the last battlefields of the Islamic State group.
Agencies contributed to this report
