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
UN rights chief Shocked by 'unbearable' Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
