Rockets Rain Down on US Base Sitting on Top of Syria’s Biggest Oil Field: Report
A U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter talks on the radio at a check point near Omar oil field base, eastern Syria
Syria’s energy ministry estimates that the US and its Kurdish militia allies control up to 90 percent of the nation’s oil and gas reserves, which allowed Damascus to enjoy energy self-sufficiency and generate modest export income before the start of the foreign-backed civil conflict in the country in 2011.A US military outpost sitting on top of the massive al-Omar oilfield in eastern Deir ez-Zor, Syria was struck by a barrage of rocket fire on Saturday evening, local media have reported. Sources told reporters that half-a-dozen rockets landed inside the area of the oil field, followed by multiple explosions. The strikes were said to have been conducted from a nearby settlement and farm area, with the US scrambling military helicopters to search for the attackers. No group has claimed responsibility.The Twitter account of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve – the official name for the US mission overseeing the occupation of Syria, has not commented on the reported attack as of this writing.The US set up the ‘Green Village’ military garrison at the al-Omar oil field in 2018. The field had a pre-2011 crisis output of roughly 30,000 barrels of crude per day. Al-Omar was exploited heavily by Daesh (ISIS)* during its occupation and plunder of the region between 2014 and 2017, and is now used by US forces and their Kurdish ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ allies to smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Syrian crude oil out of the country via Iraq, several dozen tankers at a time.
WorldUS Forces Reportedly Smuggle 79 More Tankers Filled to the Brim With Stolen Syrian Oil25 September, 19:05 GMTSaturday’s reported rocket strike is the third such attack targeting US forces in northeastern Syria in a month’s time, with Green Village hit in a separate assault on September 18, and a rocket strike targeting a military airstrip near the Rmelan oil fields in al-Hasakah province struck on October 8.The US occupation of northeastern Syria has robbed Damascus of 90 percent of its oil and gas resources, and deprived the nation of funds desperately needed for reconstruction in the wake of a decade-long foreign-backed war. Unlike Donald Trump, who openly admitted that US forces were stationed in Syria to “keep the oil,” and who mulled pulling troops out of the country at the end of his term, the Biden White House maintains that US troops are in Syria only to prevent Daesh’s resurgence.
WorldArmed Conflicts Flare Up in Syria’s Northeast After US Troops’ Landing, Source Says6 October, 11:30 GMT* A terrorist group outlawed by Russia and many other countries.
