BEIRUT: Kurdish-led authorities in northeast Syrian Arab Republic have begun providing oil from local fields they manage to the central government in Damascus, Syrian oil ministry spokesman Ahmed Suleiman told Reuters on Saturday.
It was the first known delivery from Syria’s oil-rich northeast to the Islamist-run government installed after former leader Bashar Assad was toppled by rebels in December.
Suleiman said the oil was from fields in the provinces of Hasakah and Deir el-Zor but did not provide further details, including the amount provided or other terms of the deal.
Syria exported 380,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2010, a year before protests against Assad’s rule spiralled into a nearly 14-year war that devastated the country’s economy and infrastructure — including its oil.
Oilfields changed hands multiple times, with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces ultimately capturing the key northeast fields, although US and European sanctions made both legitimate exports and imports difficult.
The United States issued a six-month sanctions exemption in January allowing some energy transactions and the European Union is set to suspend its sanctions related to energy, transport and reconstruction.
In the interim, Syria is seeking to import oil via local intermediaries after its first post-Assad import tenders garnered little interest from major traders due to sanctions and financial risks, several trade sources told Reuters.
Internal oil trade is also a key part of talks between the semi-autonomous northeast region and the new authorities in Damascus, which want to bring all regions in Syria under centralized control.
Sources said the SDF would likely need to relinquish control of oil revenues as part of any settlement. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said last month that his force was open to handing over responsibility for oil resources to the new administration, provided the wealth was distributed fairly to all provinces.
Syria’s northeast begins supplying oil to Damascus, oil ministry says
https://arab.news/gj9dy
Syria’s northeast begins supplying oil to Damascus, oil ministry says
- Suleiman said the oil was from fields in the provinces of Hasakah and Deir el-Zor
- The United States issued a six-month sanctions exemption in January allowing some energy transactions
Western Libya forces kill notorious migrant smuggler, security agency says
- The Security Threats Combating Agency raided the group’s hideout in response to the attack and killed its leader, Ahmed Al-Dabbashi
- Dabbashi had been under US sanctions since 2018
BENGHAZI: Western Libyan security forces said on Friday they had killed a notorious migrant smuggler in the coastal city of Sabratha after “criminal gangs” affiliated with him attacked one of their checkpoints overnight.
The Security Threats Combating Agency, a security agency under western Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah, said they raided the group’s hideout in response to the attack and killed its leader, Ahmed Al-Dabbashi, also known as “Al-Amu.”
Dabbashi’s brother was arrested and six members of the force were wounded in the fighting, the agency said in the statement on its Facebook page.
Dabbashi had been under US sanctions since 2018. Washington described him as the “leader of one of two powerful migrant smuggling organizations” based in Sabratha and said he had “used his organization to rob and enslave migrants before allowing them to leave for Italy.”
Human trafficking is rife in Libya, which has been divided between rival armed factions since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The proliferation of smuggling gangs and the absence of a strong central authority have made the country one of the main staging points for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Dbeibah was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021, but significant parts of western Libya remain outside his control. Dbeibah’s Government of National Unity, or GNU, is not recognized by rival authorities in the east.
An armed alliance affiliated with an earlier UN-backed government in Tripoli – the Government of National Accord – had taken on Dabbashi’s forces in a three-week battle in 2017 that killed and wounded dozens and damaged residential areas and Sabratha’s Roman ruins.
