ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An American military convoy was spotted driving in northern Syria, travelling towards Deir ez-Zor, presumably to guard oil fields according to US President Donald Trump’s wishes. Moscow has accused the United States of smuggling Syrian oil.
A US defense official confirmed to Rudaw that they have begun reinforcing positions in Deir ez-Zor.
The United States has "begun reinforcing our positions in the Deir ez-Zor region, in coordination with our SDF partners, with additional military assets to prevent the oil fields from falling back into the hands of ISIS or other destabilizing actors," a US defense official told Rudaw by email, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Trump, who ordered American soldiers to pull out of northern Syria earlier this month ahead of a Turkish military offensive, has said some will remain in the country to secure the oil fields that “were held by ISIS until the United States took them over with the help of the Kurds. We will NEVER let a reconstituted ISIS have those fields!” he tweeted on Thursday.
The United States is sending armoured vehicles and combat troops into eastern Syria to protect the oil fields from ISIS, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday after a NATO meeting.
The US is “considering how we might reposition forces in the area in order to ensure we secure the oil field,” said Esper. “We are reinforcing that position. It will include some mechanized forces.”
“If ISIS has access to the resources, and therefore the means to procure arms or to buy fighters or whatever else they do, then it means it makes it more difficult to defeat ISIS,” he added.
Rudaw filmed a convoy of US troops travelling in northern Syria Saturday at midday. They were spotted on the road west of Rmeilan, about 40 kilometres west of Iraq’s al-Walid border crossing with Syria. Kurdish sources with knowledge of the convoy who confirmed to Rudaw’s Rengin Sharo they left Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region, Saturday morning and are headed to the oil-rich region of Deir ez-Zor.
The convoy was filmed entering Syria just five days after most US troops departed northern Syria, pelted with fruit and stones by angry Kurds in Syria and the Kurdistan Region.
Russia has accused the United States of making millions smuggling Syrian oil.
“Tank trucks guarded by US military servicemen and private military companies smuggle oil from fields in eastern Syria to other countries. In the event of any attack on such a convoy, US special operations forces and combat aviation are immediately used to protect it,” Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
He accused American businesses of supplying equipment needed to extract the oil, in violation of US sanctions against Syria. Estimating that monthly revenue from the scheme exceeds $30 million, he said “To secure such a continuous financial flow free from control and taxes, the top officials at the Pentagon and Langley will be willing to guard and protect oil wells in Syria from the imaginary ‘hidden cells of the Islamic State (ISIS)’ indefinitely.
Updated at 3:46 pm
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