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| https://www.juancole.com/images/2019/10/trump-hands-oil-gas-to-syria-rus-750x422.jpg |
"New War for Oil? Trump to Occupy Oil-Rich Syrian Province with Tank Corps, Asks for Kurdish Displacement There"
-- Juan Cole 10/25/2019
- compare -
"What does THAT mean? Trump says US ‘secured the oil’ in Syria, causes confusion"
RT -- 18 Oct, 2019 17:53 (i.e., days ago)
https://www.bing.com/search?q=trump+oil+syria&FORM=HDRSC1
"After American troop withdrawal, Trump shifts focus to Syria oil fields," [undated]
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/10/25/after-american-troop-withdrawal-trump-shifts-focus-to-syria-oil-fields/
The latter item begins:
The Pentagon released a statement Thursday [Oct. 24] saying it is committed to sending additional military forces to eastern Syria to “reinforce” control of the oil fields and prevent them from “falling back to into the hands of ISIS or other destabilizing actors.”
No details were provided on how many or what kind of forces would be sent, or whether decisions on those details have been made.
Trump’s decision to withdraw the bulk of roughly 1,000 American troops from Syria drew bipartisan condemnation. The decision came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Trump earlier this month that he intended to carry out an operation to clear the Turkey-Syria border of Kurdish fighters who fought side-by-side with U.S. troops in beating back IS fighters in northeast Syria.
The president’s comments this week raised fresh concerns that he has an incomplete understanding, or is indifferent to, the fragile dynamics of the region, his critics say.
“The President of the United States of America appears to be calling for a mass migration of Kurds to the desert where they can resettle atop a tiny oil field,” Brett McGurk, Trump’s former special envoy to the global coalition to defeat IS, wrote on Twitter.
But the idea of keeping troops in eastern Syria to guard the oil fields resonated with Trump and presented military commanders with a way to keep at least a residual force inside the country. In addition to a presence near the oil fields in eastern Syria, some U.S. forces will remain in southern Syria.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the main goal of the American troop presence is to make sure the Islamic State is contained and unable to gain control of the oil fields and the revenue they generate. The administration also sees some benefit to Kurds being in control of the oil, according to a senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the administration’s deliberations on the Syria withdrawal.