US sends reinforcements to Syria to protect oil fields
The US is sending reinforcements into Syria to secure the oil fields, the Defence Secretary confirmed on Friday, in a reversal of plans to fully withdraw from the conflict.
“We are now taking some actions... to strengthen our position at Deir ez zor, to ensure that we can deny ISIS access to the oil fields,” Mark Esper told reporters during a press conference, using an acronym for Islamic State.
“We are reinforcing that position, it will include some mechanized forces,” Esper said. Mechanized forces usually include tanks and other military assets.
“We will NEVER let a reconstituted ISIS have those fields!” President Trump tweeted on Thursday.
The White House is reportedly considering options for leaving 500 US troops in the country and sending dozens of battle tanks, as well as other heavy military equipment, to protect the US troops stationed near SDF-controlled oil fields.
Defence officials told CNN that the move is likely to happen “relatively soon”.
Oil fields across Syria and Iraq were a key source of income for Isil. In 2015 the US Treasury Department estimated that the group made nearly $500 million per year from producing and exporting oil.
Mr Esper said that the troops currently protecting the unspecified oil fields are there “to deny access, specifically revenue to ISIS and any other groups that may want to seek that revenue to enable their own malign activities.”
However, it is likely that the decision to “secure the oil” is to stop the Assad regime reclaiming the sought-after territory, rather than the remnants of Isil.
“Things have been heading in the direction of Assad and Russia taking control of the oil fields in the area,” said Lina Khatib, head of the MENA programme at Chatham House.
“For the US, having control of the oil fields translates into being able to pressure Iran economically. There is Iranian militia presence in the areas around the oil fields in Deir Ezzor. Were the Assad regime and Russia to advance in that area, it opens up opportunities for these Iran backed groups to also get access to oil revenue which would go against US maximum pressure policy on Iran.”
The modification of US objectives in Syria comes as their abandoned allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are accusing Turkey of violating the ceasefire process that has been in place since Tuesday.
The spokesperson for the SDF, Mustafa Bali, said on Thursday that Turkey had launched offensives in three villages with “large number of mercenaries and all kinds of heavy weapons”.
