Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has announced U.S. troops will remain indefinitely in Syria.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: “But let us be clear: The United States will maintain a military presence in Syria focused on ensuring ISIS cannot re-emerge.”

Tillerson said the troops are needed to counter the government of President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian influence. This comes as the monitoring group Airwars has revealed as many 6,100 civilians were killed in U.S.-backed airstrikes in Syria and Iraq last year, three times higher than the previous year. Meanwhile, tension is rising on the northern border of Syria as Turkey is preparing for what looks like an assault in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin.