Trump tweeted one day later that Defense Secretary James Mattis will retire at the end of February, but changed his decision by the end of that week by saying that he has picked Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan as the acting Pentagon chief, forcing the outgoing Pentagon chief to step down two months earlier than planned.

Trump has never been a fan of sending U.S. troops for battles overseas. Ever since his campaign, he has urged the homecoming of the "boys", while senior national security officials, including Mattis, have advocated a longer-term military deployment to secure anti-terrorism victory.

In a surprise visit to U.S. troops in Iraq later in December after his controversial decisions, Trump promised a "strong deliberate and orderly withdrawal" from Syria.

"In Syria, Erdogan said he wants to knock out IS, whatever's left, the remnants of IS. And Saudi Arabia just came out and said they are going to pay for some economic development. Which is great, that means we don't have to pay," he said.

On Friday, the Pentagon tweeted that "the next phase of U.S. support to the #Coalition's operation in #Syria is a deliberate, well thought-out, mutually supportive, and controlled withdrawal of forces while taking all measures possible to ensure our troops' safety and protection."

The U.S. media reported that one of the withdrawal options is to manage a 120-day pullout period.

Also on Friday, Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeted that he is "looking forward to visiting Israel & Turkey in January."

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