Reports out of eastern Syria, citing local sources, say that the US appears to be preparing to build two substantial military bases in the Soor area, near major oilfields which the Trump Administration intends to retain.
Since President Trump announced in October that his military goals in Syria were being entirely revised around the idea of keeping control over oilfeilds, and talked of extracting oil from the area, US military deployments have centered on oilfields in the east.
It makes some sense then that the US would be building bases in that area, since it’s where the troops are staying. If anything though, this rush of material shows both how hasty the oil-taking decision was, and how long the US is likely to end up stuck in Syria trying to get oil out of there.
Russian outlets have predicted the oil the US intends to appropriate will be worth around $30 million per month, though President Trump has claimed a much higher value of $45 million per month in his own comments.
Either way, the cost of keeping US troops in Syria exclusively to try to take the oil is not insubstantial, and the cost of building and operating entire new US bases is only going to add to that cost.
The assumption seems to be that the oil will pay for this in the end, though the legal basis for taking the oil simply does not exist, and so far no US company has indicated even a hint of interest in getting drawn into this difficult effort.
“Let us die young or let us live forever
We don’t have the power, but we never say never.
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music’s for the sad man”
A message from the 80’s
One of my favorite songs explicitly about life extension. At 70, it registers for me. 🙂
What the hell happened to my country?!
Did you just woke up?……US foreign policy has been like this for many, many decades.
Nothing new. T’was always like this, only now its more out in the open.
Voters abandoned the constitution for promises of safety and free stuff….
Barlow,,right on!!
Oh and they stupidly let the government take over education thus leaving their children’s impressionable minds in the hands of ideologues bent on reshaping the world.
EXEC,,Examine yourself,,,are you an enabler??
Well, of course, gotta have a place to put the xmas tree……..
This notion that the US is trying to decide how to steal Syria’s oil is completely disingenuous. They’ve been stealing the oil almost from day one. The only reason the US military is directly involved is because Russia smashed the whole operation when it was being run by daesh. They went from billions a month in stolen oil revenue to almost nothing nearly overnight. They moved in the troops to secure the logistical routes for the stolen oil. That move cut Turkey out of part of this racket and the Turks have been quite peeved ever since. The PKK kurds that have been facilitating the oil theft for the US military won’t work with Turkey like daesh did.
Meanwhile, the Russians are building an airbase just outside of Qamishli in northeast Syria on the northern edge of the Suwayda oil field. This could get very interesting in the next few months. We aren’t talking about coming up against terrorists with Kalashnikovs anymore. What big oil corporation would want to set up shop in that neighborhood?
Have to keep an eye on Qamishi, but if I’m not mistaken, isn’t that a joint Turkish-Russian area of operation? It’s to the far east out of the way of U.S. land grabs. Too close to the Turkish border for Russia’s interests, but will watch.It could be an indication that if a real war starts, Turkey will flip the switch to Russia and take out the American bases. I’ve been convinced for a couple years now that Erdogan, Assad, Nasrallah, Putin, Rouhani and the Iraqis are in a secret agreement to take out Israel if Iran is attacked.
Nope, nukes……
The Qamishi airport is still under the control of the Syrians. The Russians have a 49 year deal to turn it into a Russian airbase that will support the operations of the Syrian Arab Army. They are in the process of occupying Syrian oil fields before the US does.
hope they get enough to keep the lights on in Damascus…
In 2010, Syria produced around 385,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
antar, you make it all sound so easy, I doubt it will be. BUT….maybe the end times are coming in that region,,,so sad.
Exactly.
In 2015, right after Putin`s speech at the UN, Russia started to smash thousands of oil tankers driving through the Syria/Turkey border.
At the G20, Putin said ” i have a list of all the countries involved in the oil for weapon smuggling, most of the countries on the list are present right here at the G20″.
The downing and killing of a Russian jet and pilot was a revenge/hit job….it had just smashed a caravan of oil tankers and was returning to its base.
USA is a malignant cancer on the body of Planet Earth.
lance, There are far worse players, if they are let loose!
Don’t expect the US to be there for a long time. They’ll be driven out.
I agree, Jonathan. The US won’t be there long .. they’ll be driven out, with their tails between their legs.
They were there too long when they showed up…..
Eileen,,Don’t count on it,,I know you are smarter than that.
Jonathan,,Won’t happen.
Clearly you overestimate the strength of the empire. Syria already has control over its electricity and power grid again. US occupying a couple oil fields doesn’t change anything much. They’ll be forced at some point. Might be 18 months or however long but it’ll happen.
Thieves and brigands: This is a new low for the US military. Funny the msm hasn’t said much on that score-presumably because the Syrians, from Assad down to the most recent new born, as enemies of the Zionist enterprise, are the bad guys, according to the accepted narrative.
“This is a new low for the US military.” Not really. The US has been using its military for crappy political objectives for at least a hundred years. They’ve just abandoned trying to justify it to the US population, because they know the US population is too apathetic to care.
The most expensive oil on earth. And the purpose for taking this oil for which we need to build new bases, is?
I cannot remember.
Purpose is israel & the Ziocons. That’s why it doesn’t make sense.
This is state sponsored banditry. US has abandoned the rule of (international) law. Its nothing more than pure highway robbery.
one of the main private contractor company that is being used in this crime is Academie (used to be “Blackwater”) and owned by a guy named Erik Prince.
Prince has openly been engaged and favored this plan.
https://southfront.org/apparent-us-mercenaries-spotted-in-rumeilan-oil-field-area-video/#comment-4679836797
We might be hard pressed to find princes footprints there, not how he operates. Not to say he isn’t all over it, just, there is a reason they call it “dark money”. Highly doubtful he is a principle base builder, that money is more auditable. Plus he specializes in hiring US taxpayer trained zombies to eat brains, cause they can’t seem to develop one of their own.
Dave, Maybe you should say that face to face with those “zombies”, 🙂 Well,,do you have the nerve,,buddy??
You never fail to amuse Jay……
Trump (and maybe the oil companies) is the only one who thinks this is about oil.
The neocons know they need to keep pouring troops into the Middle East for the upcoming Iran war. They also knew Trump is an idiot who can be persuaded in monetary terms. So they convinced him to seize Syrian oil.
It’s exactly the same promise the neocons made in the Iraq war – that the oil assets of Iraq would pay the cost of the war. Everyone knows by now that was completely bogus – except Trump, who as I said is an idiot.
This is just another demonstration of how Trump can be convinced to do almost anything as long as the argument for doing so is couched in the simple terms he can understand. This completely destroys his supporters’ notion that he is some kind of genius with some advanced plan to “drain the swamp.”
He *is* the swamp – of stupidity and ignorance.
I think Trumps style is evident, do the deed even if it’s a crime then the US will have something to bargain with some time later. Also we the US were shocked when Iraq told us to get lost, so a couple of more basis in Syria will be a way to keep the war going, and secure the bigger picture.
Shouldn’t the Syrians make some noise at the UN? This theft of oil is too obvious (like most of Trumps plays) in Iraq we knocked out the government, set up a weak puppet, and then “negotiated” deals with the weak government that needed us for survival. That is how to do it without raising too many eyebrows.
The only way this even remotely makes sense is to use this region as a bargaining chip in a future deal with the Syrian government. Not to say that IS the reason, because it could just be damn foolishness.
Depending on how you look at it, Prez. Trump may have made a genius move.