Syrian army soldiers enter Rumailan oilfield in Hasakah after years
…from PressTV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: I was surprised that Damascus took this long to get people on these open oil fields. It had the planes to move troops and supplies in quickly and to set up a helicopter base with Russian support.
There is not much fighting with the Turks now. We knew the Turkish militias were going to skirmish with the SDF people to keep the rumble on a low boil.
One would have thought that commando squads would have been ready to recapture the north Syria oil fields, or that the initial deal with the Kurds would have gotten their cooperation on securing the fields from “outsiders’.
If this was not done but left for later “political discussions”, then Damascus screwed up. It will be much harder to undo now, as while Damascus had some leverage over the Kurds, it has little or none with the US.
And you can bet your booties the US is not going to walk away from these Syrian oil holdings for no gain. It will want a pound of flesh – like having a permanent “advisory” presence in Syria with the Kurds.
Secretary of Defense Esper, not well-trained in the dark arts, blew his poker hand by saying out of one side of his mouth the US was defending the Syrian oil fields from ISIS, and then from the other side saying it “will use overwhelming force” against anyone trying to get them, including the Syrian government.
So we have the US official position that it considers ISIS and the Syrian government as threats against which the US can do anything it wants. I think they call this unipolar conquest. As long as it is unopposed institutionally inside the US, it will get worse… Jim W. Dean ]
Jim's Editor’s Notes are solely crowdfunded via PayPal
Jim's work includes research, field trips, Heritage TV Legacy archiving & more. Thanks for helping. Click to donate >>
– First published … November 05, 2019 –
Syrian government forces have reportedly entered an oilfield in the country’s northeastern province of Hasakah, as they continue to deploy in areas close to the border with Turkey in the face of a cross-border incursion by Turkish army troops and their allied militants against militants from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Several media outlets reported on Tuesday that Syrian army troops had gone into the Rumailan oilfield, located near the village of Mulla Abbas, “for the first time in years.”
The pro-government and Arabic-language daily al-Watan reported that Rumailan had remained outside state control for seven years.
The report comes as Washington has reversed an earlier decision to pull out all troops from northeastern Syria, announcing last week the deployment of about 500 troops to the oilfields controlled by Kurdish forces.
Pentagon chief Mark Esper said the deployment will seek to secure oil resources from Daesh. Washington, he said, will use “overwhelming” force against any other actor challenging the US, including Syria’s own government.
Speaking last week, President Donald Trump suggested that Washington sought economic interests by controlling the oilfields.
The report comes as Washington has reversed an earlier decision to pull out all troops from northeastern Syria, announcing last week the deployment of about 500 troops to the oilfields controlled by Kurdish forces.
Pentagon chief Mark Esper said the deployment will seek to secure oil resources from Daesh. Washington, he said, will use “overwhelming” force against any other actor challenging the US, including Syria’s own government.
Speaking last week, President Donald Trump suggested that Washington sought economic interests by controlling the oilfields.
Syria’s official news agency reported that Syrian government forces passed through the towns of al-Qahtaniyah and al-Jawadiyah over a distance of more than 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) and started to establish posts once they reached the designated areas.
Separately, Turkish military forces have begun to bring military reinforcements to al-Souda village in the countryside of the strategic border town of Ra’s al-Ayn.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
ATTENTION READERS
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully InformedIn fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
