Follow Us
Washington, October 29
Pivoting from the dramatic killing of the Islamic State group’s leader, the Pentagon is increasing US efforts to protect Syria’s oil fields from the extremist group as well as from Syria itself and the country’s Russian allies.
It’s a new high-stakes mission even as American troops are withdrawn from other parts of the country.
Defence Secretary Mark Esper says the military’s oil field mission also will ensure income for Syrian Kurds who are counted on by Washington to continue guarding Islamic State prisoners and helping American forces combat remnants of the group — even as President Donald Trump continues to insist all US troops will come home.
“We don’t want to be a policeman in this case,” Trump said on Monday, referring to America’s role after Turkey’s incursion in Syria.
In the face of Turkey’s early October warning that it would invade and create a “safe zone” on the Syrian side of its border, Trump ordered US forces to step aside, effectively abandoning a Kurdish militia that had partnered with US troops.
Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke at a Pentagon news conference to cheer the successful mission by US special operations forces Saturday that ended with IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blowing himself up.
Esper called al-Baghdadi’s death a “devastating blow” to an organisation that already had lost its hold on a wide swath of territory in Syria and Iraq.
Milley said the US had disposed of al-Baghdadi’s remains “appropriately” and in line with the laws of armed conflict.
He also said US forces retrieved unspecified intelligence information from the site, which he described as a place in north-western Syria where the IS leader had been “staying on a consistent basis”.
A US military dog that was slightly injured in the raid has recovered and is back at work, Milley said.
Esper hinted at uncertainty ahead in Syria, even though the Islamic State has lost its inspirational leader, with the Syrian government exploiting support from Russia and Iran.
“The security situation in Syria remains complex,” Esper said.
A big part of that complexity is the re-jiggering of the battlefield since Trump earlier this month ordered a full US troop withdrawal from positions along the Turkish border in north-eastern Syria.
Even as those troops leave, other US forces are heading to the oil-producing region of eastern Syria, east of the Euphrates river.
Trump recently has proposed hiring an American oil company to begin repairing Syria’s oil infrastructure, which has been devastated by years of war.
Repeated US airstrikes against facilities for oil storage, transport, processing and refining starting in 2015 inflicted heavy damage.
Esper said last week that a “mechanised” force would reinforce US positions in the oil region, meaning a force equipped with tanks or Bradley infancy carriers.
On Monday he provided no details about the makeup of the force.
He referred to “multiple state and non-state” forces vying for control of Syrian territory and resources, including the oil. He said that while the main US military mission is to ensure the “enduring defeat” of the Islamic State, that now will include denying oil income for the group.
“The United States will retain control of oil fields in northeast Syria,” Esper said, adding that at the height of al-Baghdadi’s rule, those oil fields provided the bulk of his group’s income.
Esper’s remarks echoed Trump’s focus on the oil. But whose oil is it? “We’re keeping the oil,” Trump said during a speech to police officers in Chicago.
“Remember that, I’ve always said that. Keep the oil. We want to keep the oil — $45 million a month — keep the oil. We’ve secured the oil.” Esper emphasised that the purpose of securing Syria’s oil region is to deny income to the Islamic State. But a reporter asked whether the mission includes preventing Russian and Syrian government forces from entering that area. — AFP
1
4
8