US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the United States would send their troops, including 'mechanized' forces, to defend the oil in eastern Syria to keep it from ISIL.[279][280][281] It is unclear whether the Kurds would welcome the Americans again in the aftermath of the US withdrawal, as Syrian Kurdish leader Ilham Ahmed commented earlier on 24 October that "If the U.S. presence in the area is not going to benefit us when it comes to stability, security, and [stopping] the genocide and ethnic cleansing, they won’t be welcomed."[282]