Thread by @jseldin

NEW: Few details on the decision to send fewer than 500 troops back to #Somalia - but focus will remain on training/bolstering #Somali forces, per @PentagonPresSec

"This is a repositioning of forces..."

Sending US forces into #Somalia periodically had become "inefficient & increasingly unsustainable" per @PentagonPresSec

#Russia, #Putin conducting war in #Ukraine in an "utterly brutal way" per @PentagonPresSec, reminding world Putin can end it now if he chooses

#Somalia - US, Pentagon sees "continued and in fact heightened threat" from #alShabaab, per @PentagonPresSec

Persistence presence of troops in Somalia "just the right thing to do" he says "This is a better way to do it"

#alShabaab - "They have been capable of conducting attacks in the region...at least the desire to attack outside the region" vs US targets, per @PentagonPresSec

#Ukraine #Kherson - Ukrainian, #Russia|n forces still fighting in that area - "There has been increased activity between...#Mikolayiv & #Kherson" per @PentagonPresSec

US forces going to #Somalia - "This is an outgrowth of many months of talking...of watching the #alShabaab threat" per @PentagonPresSec "...based on the advice and counsel of [@USAfricaCommand's] Gen. Townsend"

US forces in #Somalia are not and will not be involved in combat operations, per @PentagonPresSec

Sending US forces back to #Somalia "will allow us to do a better, more persistent job of advising & assisting" Somali forces, per @PentagonPresSec

"This isn't about a tipping point" per @PentagonPresSec about decision to send US troops back to #Somalia

Says it was part of "a very deliberate policy making process" to come to the decision, he says

"There's some additional spade-work that needs to be done"

#Somalia-"This is not a deployment...it's a change in the posture" per @PentagonPresSec

US forces will come & go "as we routinely rotate forces"