"We will continue to provide life-saving, needs-based humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Syrians, support for the White Helmets and the UN’s International Impartial and Independent Mechanism to hold the [Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime accountable for serious crimes, as well as equipment and other measures to counter the effects of chemical weapons in northwest Syria," Nauert said.
As the spokesperson explained, the decision "does not represent any lessening of US commitment to its strategic goals in Syria".
READ MORE: UN Supports Disinformation Campaign About White Helmets — Foreign Ministry
The US State Department also established a special representative for Syria.
"The State Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are both pleased to announce that Jim Jeffery, a retired Foreign Service Officer, who most recently served as US ambassador to Iraq, will rejoin the State Department as the Secretary's Representative for Syrian Engagement," Nauert told reporters.
The State Department announced on Friday that the United States would redirect some $230 million in stabilization funds for Syria towards other foreign policy priorities. Earlier in May, the US announced that they could have stopped financing the White Helmets in Syria due to evidence of staged provocations in Douma.