Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
from The News Desk at The Cradle, April 25, 2023
Unknown persons attacked a military checkpoint protecting the main road leading to the Al-Omar oil field, where one of the most prominent US bases in occupied eastern Syria is located, Sputnik reported on 25 April.
Local sources confirmed to Sputnik that unknown persons carried out an armed attack this morning with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns on one of the military checkpoints belonging to the militants of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are loyal to the US army in the town of Al-Shuhail in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor governorate.
The sources revealed that the attack resulted in the injury of two gunmen at the checkpoint, who were taken to a hospital in the town of Al-Shuhail.
The sources added: “Immediately after the attack, the US warplanes flew over the town, while the SDF applied a cordon to surround the town and its gunmen carried out a searched for the perpetrators who fled to an unknown destination.”
Yesterday evening, the US military conducted live-fire training at the base of the Al-Omar oil field, the largest military base of the US forces in the region, and the sounds of explosions were heard from inside until late hours, in the context of preparing to defend against future attacks.
The village of Al-Shuhail is the main corridor to and from the Al-Omar oil field, which is one of the largest oil fields in Syria. The Conoco natural gas plant is also nearby, where another US base is located.
At the beginning of this month, the US occupation forces brought a large convoy that included military equipment, surveillance devices, and various weapons to reinforce both bases.
During the US-backed war against the Syrian government, which began in 2011, Al-Shuhail served as the base for extremist militants from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. Al-Shuhail is also the hometown of Nusra head Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who still heads the group, now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Julani’s HTS currently occupies Syria’s northwest Idlib province with Turkish backing.
The Nusra Front and its allies in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) captured the oil and gas fields at Al-Omar and Conoco from Syrian government control in early 2013 and began looting Syrian oil in cooperation with the EU and Turkey.
ISIS captured these fields and the accompanying revenue stream from Nusra and the FSA in 2014 as it swept through eastern Syria and western Iraq and created its so-called Caliphate.
The US military partnered with the Kurdish militant group, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), to create the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2015 following Russia’s intervention in the conflict, and in turn, captured Al-Omar and Conoco from ISIS.
SDF and US forces continue to occupy large swathes of north and east Syria, preventing the return of Syria’s major oil and gas resources to the Syrian state. Denying Syria of its energy resources has played a key role in reinforcing US-imposed economic sanctions against Syria, which have created an economic and humanitarian crisis in the country.
