The Pentagon intends to retain control of Syria’s oilfields going forward, and says they will repel anyone else trying to take that oil with “overwhelming force.” This has become the chief, and materially only, military goal of the US military operation in Syria.
Since President Trump announced his intention to control the oil, and conceivably to try to take some of it on behalf of the US, the Pentagon has been revising the Syria mission around controlling the oil. This has included sending more troops and tanks.
Pentagon officials have tried to build this narrative around keeping ISIS from reclaiming the oilfields, since they held them once. With ISIS barely existing anymore, that’s not a realistic threat, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper conceded on Monday that the deployments of US forces are meant to “deny access” to the oil to either Russia or the Syrian government.
Keeping Syria’s oil away from Syria is a potential problem, but Esper says the goal is to give some of the money to the Kurdish SDF to keep themselves armed, and to keep supporting the US military mission in Syria.
Giving the Kurds money to help with the US mission would sound a lot better if the US mission wasn’t to keep the oil for itself, and with the US increasingly cutting its ties to the Kurds, and Trump increasingly ripping into the Kurds on social media, it seems like that ship has already sailed.
Which doesn’t mean any necessarily substantial changes in the US plan, beyond cutting the Kurds out of the equation of who gets money out of an oil scheme, assuming one ever actually happens.
That oil ain’t going NOWHERE.
But the Yanks are… Color US gone.
Yanks aren’t even in it. It’s the Astros vs Nationals.
The US steals the oil, gives some of the oil revenue to its mercenaries.
in that way the Syrian people will pay for the US occupation……instead of the oil revenue going to rebuilding Syria….after the US and its mercenaries have destroyed Syria.
Legal experts, however, say if US forces or firms take any oil without the consent of Syria’s legal government, that would amount to pillaging, a technical term meaning theft during wartime. Pillaging is illegal under both US and international law. It is explicitly prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Yes. However the Geneva convention allows the occupier to take locally what is needed for the occupying forces but not more.
Your full of BS.
He means in a state of war.
The US is in a state of war with Syria.
It is not because there is no declared war. It is also not a legal “occupying power”. The argument is complete BS.
What it is under international law is an illegal act of unilateral aggression – just like the Iraq war was and literally hundreds of international legal experts said Iraq was.
Not that any of that matters. Might makes right and always has with regard to the behavior of states.
Ooh! And Prima Nocta.
Let us do all we can to keep the Syrian people without the means to rebuild their country. Leave them destitute and hopeless as are Gaza’s Palestinians. Bibi and Lindsey would both like that.
I forsee absolutely NOTHING going wrong with this plan, nope! No blowback, nothing.The Syrians just be grateful the USA decided to ‘right’ all those ‘wrongs’ there. /sarcasm
There are people in Syria? Syrian people?
Never met one …
Bibi’s on his way out, Harvey, he was unable to form a new govt. His rival – Benny Gantz – has been given the task to do what Bibi failed to do.
In addition, once Gantz has formed a new govt, Bibi will more likely face bribery and other corruption charges and spend time in prison.
And Gantz will proceed to do exactly what Bibi would do.
“Meet the new boss – same as the old boss.”
…..and his wife, but a different prison.
“Defense”? Same “defense” plan Japan had for Southeast Asia oil fields & Germany had for oil fields in Russia back in the 1940s.
For a while the Japanese were in full control of the (now) Indonesian oil fields on Sumatra and Borneo.
The Germans never captured the major oil fields of the Soviet Union at Baku.
When the Germans (Rommel) occupied much of Libya they drilled but not for oil. They drilled for water for their water-cooled tank engines. The drillers often reported that the water they found was too salt rich to be of use. No one in Berlin reacted with “Heilige Kuh, there might be oil there.” The Germans did have the technology in 1941-42 for drilling and producing oil in Libya. Getting it out would have been a problem.
The Japanese never really got the Indonesian oil back into production. The wells were limited, and the refining capacity more so. The Japanese just didn’t have the ability to reconstruct what the allies wrecked on their way out, and less so after a key ship with hundreds of their best oil people was sunk by submarine.
They went to war to get that oil, but they did not really get much of it.
They did that because we (the US) put an oil embargo on them.
Since there wasn’t much oil before, and so much has been wrecked since, this can’t really be about oil the way it is understood in the Middle East.
It is about occupying the land, land positions key to fighting with Iran. It is about an Iran war.
Not with DJT in the White House, Mark. You forget, he’s never started any wars in his current term in office .. It was his predecessors – mainly G. W. Bush and Barack Obama who started the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. If he started a war with Iran, DJT would become a Lame Duck President (i.e., lose his chances at re-election). He’s been negotiating with the Iranians behind the scenes for some time now. And, as for Syria, if he fails in his promises to totally withdraw from Syria very soon, Bashar Al-Assad’s hardened forces will kick US forces’ butts and drive them out; and he, himself won’t be re-elected next year.
It is about confusing ignorant Congress — telling them how we really did not withdraw from Syria. This rather low value oil patch is the excuse for grand standing, as well as shutting. Democrats up. Democrats base does not like the idea of taking oil fields, but Democrats cannot attack Trump on this, as they want him to stay in Syria. But how much if Syria and where — who knows,
Israeli papers have panicked over Trump withdrawal. They are panicking that Trump has all of the sudden shifted geopolitical balance. By not standing by Kurdish statehood, and mysteriously not being able to protect Saudi Arabia — are according to Israeli press a sign of possible softening of Israel’s support.
There is also a realization that — counting on US unquestioning defense commitment, Israel wasted a great deal of US taxpayers’ money building shield against primitive rickets, not anticipating need for independent self defense against sophisticated cruise missiles.
Trump is now trying to appease everyone, but what is done is done. Syria’s territorial control up to Turkish border and of the entire North — is now a fact,
Downvoted for typos. Please take more care when typing to me. And thinking, for that matter.
What US mission are Kurds — YPG or SDF — supposed to support? Fight against Damascus? Against Turkey? Russia? Since Syrian Government now controls the very capital of Kurdish statehood, Kobane, and has made irrelevant both the President and the Parliament — what exactly are Kurds supposed to accomplish?
Also, outside Kobane and Afrin Kurds have no centers of large Kurdish population.
They are still referring to it as SDF — even though only YPG is running it.
Perhaps, this is just to confuse Congress, as most are very ignorant on details of anything they vote on. Telling tales of SDF having a mission, and oil protection — all tell tale signs that US is trying still to prevent Syria to take over East Syria. BUT as we have NO proxies there, there must be a tale spun as to our soldiers alone occupying this patch of Syria.
Syria has now plenty on its plate — control of territory it lost in 2011, securing Turkish border in COMMON interest — resolving status of Kurdish armed units.
And not to underestimate potential of Kurds causing problem by not withdrawing from the border — challenge to Syria and Russia.
So, testing US posture at oil fields and Al-Tanf is low priority.
US should get out of of Syria before being humiliated…!
The US is humiliated, and should have stayed out of Syria to begin with.
Tut, tut. We mustn’t criticize anything Obama did.
Aside from the obvious complete illegality of the US seizing another country’s oil fields under international law by any interpretation possible – and the idea that it’s “legal” for an “occupying force” to do so is absurd because the US has no legal right to be in Syria in the first place, let alone having declared itself an “occupying force” – it should be obvious that the real goal is simply to put more troops in *all* the countries relevant to Iran preparatory for an Iran war.
Look for scores of thousands of troops to return to Iraq – probably under the guise of “stabilizing” the country and “helping the Iraqi government” as a result of the unrest there – which was probably started by the CIA itself – just like the unrest in Lebanon was probably started and is, according to Hassan Nasrallah recent statement, being fueled by Israel.
So this is just more US-Israeli business as usual – fomenting chaos in the Middle East preparatory to another war. Except this time the war will be all over the Middle East – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon will all be targeted.
The neocons can’t afford to let a golden opportunity like a delusional, narcissistic, clueless President go to waste.
So much for ending the endless wars. Trump reveals himself to have lied about ending them, or he’s buckled to the military establishment, or he’s impotent to stop the military establishment.
https://theredfootedbooby.com/2019/10/29/in-the-news-trump-caves-to-the-military-establishment-time-to-start-thinking-about-yourselves-fellas/
Democracy and empire cannot co-exist. Choose one or the other.
A Hobbesian choice, indeed.
Netanyahu used to brag about how easy it is to manipulate US public opinion and it looks like he is on his way out. Now all we need is a few more voices in the Mainstreem Media that can point out the folly of this US Middle East policy or the lack of it. Trump can use this whole fiasco to his advantage if he just sticks to his guns and ends these US instigated wars, stops robbing Syria and brings the troops home, his only chance.
Seems to me, if the US mission is to deny use of the oilfields to … anyone, they should simply destroy the infrastructure.
The US is so good at destroying infrastructure, and everything else.