On Friday, US warplanes attacked and destroyed three oil tankers that were traveling through Syrian Kurdish territory. At least four people were killed in the course of the attacks.
Details are still scant, and the US hasn’t made a formal statement on
what happened. The tankers are believed to have entered from Iraq, and
were heading toward Assad territory. Since Syria lost all their
oil-producing regions in the war, they have to import what minimal oil
they can get to keep their economy and military going.
But the US has imposed an oil embargo on Syria, in keeping with
long-standing goals of regime change there. It seems the US ban on Syria
having any oil is the basis for US warplanes attacking oil-containing
vehicles in Syria.
While the US attacking things in Syria generally has little in the way
of immediate consequences, the Kurdish YPG, a US ally, have been
believed to be profiting off these oil shipments as well, and the US
attack may strain relations with them.
US Warplanes Destroy Three Oil Tankers in Syria, Killing Four
Tankers were violating Syria oil embargo
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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