Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press that the U.S. needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the Islamic State group from reconstituting as a major threat.

Since the fall of President Bashar Assad regime, tensions across the Middle East have continued to remain high.

U.S forces are still needed in Syria to prevent ISIS from reconstituting as a major threat following Assad's ouster, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

The Turkish armed forces have been placed on full combat readiness due to the potential for operations against Kurdish armed groups in Syria. This information was provided to the pro-government newspaper "Türkiye" by sources within the Turkish Ministry of Defense.

Turkey threatened Tuesday to launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria unless they accepted Ankara's conditions for a "bloodless" transition after the fall of strongman president Bashar al-Assad.