United States President Donald Trump revealed that some American troops will remain in Syria for the time being, an apparent policy shift from his previously declared position of an immediate and total military pull-out. “We’re going to be there [in Syria] and we’re going to be staying—we have to protect Israel, we have to protect other things,” the U.S. president said in an interview with CBS News. He nevertheless qualified that “yeah, they’ll be coming back in a matter of time.” Israeli officials reportedly have been lobbying the White House to maintain a troop presence at the al-Tanf base straddling the Jordanian and Iraqi borders in order to prevent Iran from establishing a contiguous land corridor stretching from Tehran to Lebanon—a so-called “Shiite Crescent” that would make it more difficult for Israel to thwart the Islamic Republic’s military build-up in countries like Iraq and Syria. Much of the U.S. defense establishment opposes a blanket troop withdrawal from the Middle East, with President Trump’s announcement in December having led to the resignations of his defense minister and the head of the American-led coalition fighting Islamic State. While the U.S. leader claimed the terror group has been defeated, ISIS has perpetrated a number of attacks over the past few weeks and there is widespread concern that the removal of an American fighting force could lead to the organization’s re-emergence.