A picture of a U.S. soldier withdrawing from Syria sporting a patch of a controversial Kurdish militia group known as the YPJ has been making the rounds across social media.

The YPJ is the women’s unit of the YPG, or People’s Protection Units — the Kurdish group considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, but has been a staunch partner of the U.S.-led effort to defeat ISIS in Syria.

It’s common for U.S. special operators to don patches of partner forces. But in 2016, American military commanders banned the wear of YPG and YPJ patches after Turkey became outraged following the circulation of photos of American commandos brandishing the patches.

“Wearing those YPG patches was unauthorized, and it was inappropriate and corrective action has been taken,” then-Army Col. Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman, told reporters in May 2016. “And we have communicated as much to our military partners and our military allies in the region.”

Neither officials with Operation Inherent Resolve — the U.S.-led mission to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria — nor officials with the Department of Defense responded to a Military Times’ query regarding whether the YPG/YPJ patches were still unauthorized.

As American convoys began to meander their way through Syria on Sunday, Agence France-Presse photographer Delil Souleiman snapped a photograph of a U.S. service member in the turret of an armored vehicle wearing the YPJ patch.

Commentators on social media quickly remarked that the U.S. soldier was showing solidarity or camaraderie with the U.S.-backed Kurdish partner force.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. may leave some forces in Syria to secure oil fields and make sure they don’t fall into the hands of a resurgent Islamic State, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday, even though President Donald Trump has insisted he is pulling troops out of the country and getting out of “endless wars.”

The Pentagon chief said the plan was still in the discussion phase and had not yet been presented to Trump, who has repeatedly said the Islamic State has been defeated.

Esper emphasized that the proposal to leave a small number of troops in eastern Syria was intended to give the president “maneuver room” and wasn’t final.

“There has been a discussion about possibly doing it,” Esper told a press conference in Afghanistan before heading to Saudi Arabia. “There has been no decision with regard to numbers or anything like that.”

Still, the fact that such a plan was under consideration was another sign the administration was still trying to sort out its overall strategy amid fierce criticism from the president’s Republican allies of his abrupt decision to pull U.S. forces back — essentially clearing the way for Turkey’s military incursion into the border region to push back the American-allied Kurdish forces.

A White House official said GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham raised the issue of keeping U.S. forces in eastern Syria to protect the oil fields and that Trump supported the idea. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

MIDWAY ATOLL, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands — A crew of deep-sea explorers and historians looking for lost World War II warships have found a second Japanese aircraft carrier that went down in the historic Battle of Midway.

Vulcan Inc.'s director of undersea operations Rob Kraft and Naval History and Heritage Command historian Frank Thompson reviewed high frequency sonar images of the warship Sunday and say that its dimensions and location mean it has to be the carrier Akagi.

The Akagi was found in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument resting in nearly 18,000 feet (5,490 meters) of water more than 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) northwest of Pearl Harbor.

The researchers used an autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, equipped with sonar to find the ship. The vehicle had been out overnight collecting data, and the image of a warship appeared in the first set of readings Sunday morning.