Pentagon says up to 1,000 US troops to withdraw from northern Syria

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that President Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern Syria, as the number of people fleeing a Turkish assault soared to 130,000.

"I spoke with the president last night after discussions with the rest of the national security team and he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria," Esper told CBS's Face the Nation.

Esper told Fox News that the number of troops being pulled back totaled "less than a thousand."
"I can't give a timeline because it changes hourly. We want to make sure that we do so in a very safe, deliberate manner, that we deconflict things as we go with those folks on the ground and immediate area."
US troops near the northern border came under artillery fire from Turkish positions on Friday, the Pentagon said, warning that the US was prepared to meet aggression with "immediate defensive action."
The US military confirmed an explosion within a few hundred meters of its post near the town of Kobani, in an area "known by the Turks to have US forces present."