Syria oil Archives - Iran News Daily

Reports Say US Military Tankers Smuggling Oil from Syria to Iraq

reporter 1222 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 07:05:03 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The US military has dispatched dozens of tankers the Jazira Region of the northeastern province of Hasakah to smuggle the Arab country’s crude oil, sources said.

Local sources, requesting not to be named, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that a convoy of 30 tankers rumbled through al-Walid crossing border crossing on Saturday evening, and headed toward the Iraqi territory after being filled with crude oil.

Since late October 2019, the United States has been redeploying troops to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces in eastern Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops there.

The Pentagon alleges that the move aims to “protect” the fields and facilities from possible attacks by Daesh, ignoring the fact that Trump had earlier suggested that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.

Syria, which has not authorized the presence of the US military in its territory, says Washington is “plundering” the country’s oil.

The presence of US forces in eastern Syria has particularly irked the civilians, and local residents have on several occasions stopped American military convoys entering the region.

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Syria Takes Control of 5 Drones over Homs Oil Facility

reporter 1222 — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 13:05:59 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Syria’s military on Sunday hacked five combatant drones operating over the Homs oil facility, using electronic-warfare specialists, a report said.

A major drone attack led by Takfiri militants was repelled in the central province after Syrian electronic-warfare specialists hacked and safely downed five unmanned aerial vehicles flying over the oil refinery in Homs, SANA reported.

In early February, foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants launched a drone strike against a gas field and a number of energy facilities in the country’s central province of Homs, causing fire and material damage.

The drones targeted the al-Rayyan gas field, the Ebla gas plant, the South Central region gas factory, and the Homs refinery.

The oil facility in Homs is one of Syria’s two main refineries, covering most domestic demand for diesel, heating fuel, gasoline, and other products.

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US, Russian forces conflict in Syria

reporter 1222 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 14:02:24 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – US forces present in areas controlled by Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria have clashed with Russian troops amid accusations that Washington is stealing oil from Syria.

The confrontation took place at the entrance to Tal Tamr in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah. The strategic town lies on a highway to the region’s key oilfields.

Following the confrontation, Russian and American vehicles headed in two different directions, the Moscow Times reported.

The standoff was followed by Russian forces and US warplanes flying over Tal Tamr in Syria, it added.

Russia has been helping Syrian forces in the ongoing battles across the conflict-plagued Arab country.

The Russian military’s assistance began in September 2015 at the official request of the Syrian government, while the US deployed troops and equipment to Syria in 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

The Saturday confrontation is reportedly the fourth of its kind in less than two weeks, Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper reported Sunday.

Last week, US forces claimed they had prevented Russian troops from approaching the oilfields in Hasakah.

The skirmishes took place amid an ongoing dispute between the US and Russia over Rumeylan oilfield, which lies in Hasakah.

The latest developments come as the US has dispatched new deployments to the Syrian provinces of Hasakah and Dayr al-Zawr over the past weeks.

The deployments followed President Donald Trump’s October decision to keep hundreds of US troops in Syria to “secure” the country’s oilfields which Syrian troops have yet to retake from militants.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that US attempts to control Syria’s oilfields were “illegal” and amounted to “robbery.”

Damascus is in great need of its major oil deposits in order to address its energy needs and rebuild the country amid crippling Western sanctions.

The Arab country has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

Syria is currently extracting oil at only 10 percent of its pre-war capacity.

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Syria to Sue Washington for Plundering Its Oil

reporter 1222 — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 09:35:50 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Syria government plans to file a lawsuit against Washington for plundering the oil resources of the Arab country, according to a senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syria government is looking into the possibility of suing Washington in an international court over the plundering of Syria’s oil reserves, Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said in an interview with the Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV.

“Syria is looking into the possibility of filing an international lawsuit against the United States, due to the fact that they steal Syrian oil,” she said in the interview, aired on Wednesday night.

Last month, Syria told the United Nations that the US had been occupying its oil fields and looting its resources as the world body remained silent on the act of misappropriation.

“The US occupies Syrian oil wells and plunders the Syrians’ revenues in the shadow of the UN Security Council’s silence,” Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari told a meeting of the 15-member body in New York on November 13.

Syria’s state-run al-Ikhbariya TV reported last week that a large US military convoy had entered oil fields in northeastern Syria, despite widespread condemnation of the deployment as being tantamount to robbery. The reinforcements, the television said, had been dispatched to the provinces of al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor from neighboring Iraq.

US President Donald Trump announced a US troop pullout from the zone of the Turkish military operation in northern Syria this fall but said that his country would not give up control over oil fields in the north of the Arab country.

The Russian Defense Ministry has said that the United States was smuggling Syrian oil to other countries, while oil caravans are guarded by US private security companies and special forces.

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Syria oil wells occupied by US: Al-Ja’afari says

reporter 1222 — Sun, 24 Nov 2019 08:10:00 +0000

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari says the Syria oil wells are occupied by United States and they are looting Syrian resources as the UN remains silent on Washington’s act of theft.

“The US occupies Syrian oil wells and plunders the Syrians’ revenues in the shadow of the UN Security Council’s silence,” he told a meeting of the 15-member body in New York on Saturday. Iran News quotes the reports.

Ja’afari said the US state terrorism has targeted Syria in a bid to change the region’s geopolitical map. “The Syrian war will end when foreign support for terrorism ends,” he added.

The ambassador further accused Turkey of occupying the Syrian territory, killing citizens, displacing tens of thousands of people and deploying terrorists to the Arab country.

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced that American troops would remain in Syria to “secure” oil reserves and even put up “a hell of a fight” against any force that tried to take them.

He also expressed interest in making a deal with ExxonMobil or another energy company to tap Syrian oil reserves.

Pentagon chief Mark Esper then threatened that US forces deployed around Syrian oil fields would use “military force” against any party that may seek to challenge control of those sites, even if it were Syrian government forces or their Russian allies.

US troops move from Iraq to Syria

On Saturday, official SANA news agency reported that a convoy of US forces had entered Syria’s Hasakah Province from Iraq.

The convoy consisting of eleven vehicles, including a tanker and a truck carrying military equipment, had passed the al-Waleed border crossing on the Iraqi-Syrian border.

German AfD lawmakers visit Syria

In another development on Friday, members of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has long pushed for the deportation Syrian migrants, visited the war-torn country.

They held a meeting with representatives of the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus to show that Syria is a “safe country of origin” for migrants to return.

The meeting also touched on a potential economic partnership between Germany and Syria.

The AfD said in a statement that their goal was to “assess concretely the situation in Syria in person as well as to have a dialogue over the situation surrounding the Syrian people and the current state of the peace process.”

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