 U.S. denies that it's planning to pull out of Syria. The U.S. Department of Defense has dismissed media reports suggesting that Washington may end its existence in a part of Syria, calling them erroneous. Responding to a query from Russia's Ria Novosti, a Pentagon spokesman denied reports this week by Foreign Policy Magazine and Middle East News outlet Al-Monitor. Foreign policy claimed that U.S. government officials were having active internal discussions regarding how and when to withdraw troops from Syria, while Al-Monitor reported that the Pentagon had proposed a plan for its Kurdish allies in Syria to partner with the Syrian government in their conflict with the Islamic State terrorist group. U.S. officials have repeatedly justified their deployment of about 900 troops in oil-rich areas of northeastern Syria in violation of Damascus' sovereignty as necessary to ensure the enduring defeat of Islamic State terrorist group. U.S. lawmakers voted down a bill last year that called for an end to the illegal U.S. presence, which has dragged on for nearly a decade and outlived Washington's failed regime change campaign against Syrian President Bashar Assad.