Syrian Islamist rebels claim capture of key oilfield

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/23/syrian-islamist-rebels-oilfield-assad

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Islamist rebels have seized the largest oilfield in eastern Syria, according to reports from opposition activists.

A video posted on the internet appears to show rebels in camouflage and black scarves driving a tank under a sign that reads "Euphrates Oil Company – al-Omar field". The speaker said the field was overrun at dawn on Saturday.

Rebels took the oilfield in November last year but were pushed out by government troops.

Syria's oil industry, which exported small amounts of oil until 2011, has been destroyed by the civil war. Oil and gas is still drawn and refined in Syria but the government has had to import oil from Venezuela and Iran. Many Syrians rely on crudely refined oil and rebels have smuggled unrefined oil into Turkey.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the loss of al-Omar could prove a big blow to the government.

"Now, nearly all of Syria's usable oil reserves are in the hands of the Nusra Front and other Islamist units," said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the UK-based group. "The regime's neck is now in Nusra's hands."

Until the reported insurgent capture of the field, a pipeline transporting the crude to central Syria for refinement had still been working despite the civil war.

The speaker in the video said: "We are now inside the al-Omar field, the biggest field in Syria. Seven tanks, two BMPs [amphibious armoured vehicles] and all the weapons and vehicles inside the field were captured."

Before sanctions, Syria exported 370,000 barrels a day, mainly to Europe.

The conflict began in March 2011 as peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule but turned into a civil war that has killed well over 100,000 people.

Assad's forces have gained momentum against the rebels in recent months but opposition fighters, particularly powerful Islamist factions, still hold large swathes of territory in northern and eastern Syria.

The violence is destabilising Syria's neighbours as well, due to sectarian and ethnic tensions that transcend borders. The uprising has fuelled Sunni-Shia tensions in particular.

The rebels are led by the Sunni Muslim majority in Syria and have drawn support from radical Sunni groups such as al-Qaida and other foreign militants.

Shia countries and militias have thrown their weight behind the president, Bashar al-Assad, who is from Syria's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

Rebels, pro-government forces and local tribes have been fighting each other and sometimes even among themselves to seize oil reserves in eastern Syria.

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