Syria’s Largest US-Occupied Oil Field Comes Under Missile & Mortar Attack

A US military base at Syria’s occupied Omar oil field in Deir Ezzor province has come under attack by unknown groups following last night’s Biden-ordered airstrike on militia bases along the Syria-Iraq border. Western sources are reporting it as “revenge” by “Iran-backed militias” for the Sunday night US military action against pro-Iranian encampments along Syria’s eastern border, which left multiple militia members dead.

Syrian state news agency SANA has confirmed that US forces at the oil field have come under attack by “unknown” militants, further as Kurdistan media source Rudaw News has cited US-backed SDF sources which have also confirmed a mortar attack.

SANA Confirmed. pic.twitter.com/tAP1IYcn9J

— ORI – WorldNews IL (@OriElmakayes) June 28, 2021

An unconfirmed social media video appears to also show a missile launched in the direction of al-Omar, with other early reports saying a barrage of artillery and surface-to-surface rockets were unleashed.

A BBC regional correspondent is further reporting that “At least 8 rockets have landed in a US military base near Omar oil field in Deir Ezzor” based on statements by Iran-backed militias.

The al-Omar field is considered the largest in all of Syria. Initially taken by ISIS back in 2014, its pre-war production was commonly estimated at 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).

It was soon after wrested from Islamic State control by US-backed Kurdish fighters, who occupied it along with American military advisers before the Syrian Army could gain control. The initial operation which led to US occupation of the oil field had crucially involved American airpower in support of the SDF ground force at the time.

#Update

Video shared by Iran-linked channels, allegedly shows rocket attack on a US base in Deir Ezzur #Syria,

The attack is confirmed by coalition sources but no further details yet . pic.twitter.com/m5Q5TgJOcK

— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) June 28, 2021

Al-Omar was then in the last couple years central to Trump’s “secure the oil” policy, which Damascus and its allies – including Russia – condemned as a severe violation of Syrian sovereignty. 

With things possibly heating up again in neighboring Iraq and along Syria’s eastern border, America’s occupation force in Syria’s oil and gas rich east could now belatedly come under intensifying pressure to either exit, or escalate. For now it looks like clear escalation.

Syria’s largest oil field has remained cut off from Damascus for years, occupied by American and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)…

Meanwhile there are reports of an ongoing US counterattack against Iran-backed militants in Deir Ezzor province.

#Breaking
Reports of a #US counter attack on Iran-linked groups in Deir Ezzur #Syria in response to their rocket attack on a US base in the same area earlier this evening

— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) June 28, 2021

#BREAKING: Reports of U.S. & coalition retaliatory shelling underway in #Syria after rocketing of the U.S. base near Omar oil field. https://t.co/UidpgWCAlh

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) June 28, 2021

developing…