US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that his country’s troop withdrawal from Syria will not end “America’s fight” against the ISIS terrorist group as the United Nations warned that the group still poses a significant threat. Pompeo assured allies that the fight “is one we will continue to wage alongside you.” Addressing foreign ministers and other senior officials from 79 countries that have worked alongside the United States in fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq, he said the group remained a menace. Participants included foreign ministers from Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and Iraq. "The drawdown in troops is essentially a tactical change, it is not a change in the mission. It simply represents a new stage in an old fight,” added the top US diplomat. "Our mission is unwavering, but we need your help to accomplish it, just as weve had over the past months and years," Pompeo said. "To that end, we ask that our coalition partners seriously and rapidly consider requests that will enable our efforts to continue. "Those requests are likely to come very soon," he added, without elaborating. Warnings by Pompeo and others that ISIS remained a dangerous threat fly in the face of President Donald Trumps December declaration that the militants had been defeated and the United States would withdraw its roughly 2,000 US troops from Syria. Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed al-Hakim, speaking after Pompeo, called on countries to help expose ISIS "sleeper cells" in Iraq and restore stability. Pompeo said despite progress in fighting ISIS in Iraq, the group retained a strong presence in that country and was trying to mount a clandestine insurgency. "The coalition must continue to support the government of Iraq in its efforts to secure the liberated areas of that country," Pompeo said. "Mr. Foreign Minister, were with you," he told Hakim. Wednesday’s remarks echoed a warning on Tuesday from a top US general, who said ISIS would pose an enduring threat following the planned withdrawal. Army General Joseph Votel, head of a US military command that oversees troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan, said the terrorist group retained leaders, fighters, facilitators and resources that would fuel a menacing insurgency. "We do have to keep pressure on this network. ... They have the ability of coming back together if we dont," Votel told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Also on Wednesday, the United Nations warned that ISIS has not been defeated in Syria and continues to pose by far the most significant threat of any terror group. UN sanctions monitors said: "ISIS has not yet been defeated in the Syrian Arab Republic, but it remains under intense military pressure in its residual territory stronghold in the east of the country.” "It has shown a determination to resist and the capability to counter-attack." UN sanctions monitors said that with the loss of its so-called “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, ISIS had morphed into a covert network, under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. ISIS leadership has been reduced to a dispersed group and "is directing some fighters to return to Iraq to join the network there" with the aim "to survive, consolidate and resurge in the core area," said the report. "If successful, ISIL may be expected to revive its focus on external terrorist operations, but for now ISIS core lacks the capability to direct international attacks," it added.