Russia condemns US decision to secure Syria oil
MOSCOW 27 Oct (ANA) - Russia's Defence Ministry has criticised the United States' decision to send armoured vehicles and combat troops into eastern Syria to protect oil fields, calling it "banditry".
US defence chief Mark Esper has said the move is aimed at keeping the fields from potentially falling into the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group.
The decision was the latest sign that extracting the US military from Syria is more uncertain and complicated than President Donald Trump has made it out to be.
On Saturday, there were several troop movements in Syria as the various players adjusted to the US decision to withdraw troops from the northeast.
A US convoy of more than a dozen vehicles was spotted driving south of the northeastern city of Qamishli, likely heading to the oil-rich Deir Az Zor area, or possibly to another base nearby. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported the convoy, saying it arrived earlier from Iraq.
A large convoy of Syrian government troops was also spotted heading toward the M4 highway. Syrian state news agency SANA said troops had entered the region of Ras al-Ain, deploying to eight villages along the highway and close to the Syria-Turkey border.
Syrian government troops had not set foot in northeastern Syria since 2012, when the government pulled out to focus on the war elsewhere in Syria.
The SDF, spearheaded by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), took control of the area when it allied itself with the US in its battle against ISIL in the region. Since its founding in 2015, it significantly expanded its control across northern and eastern Syria and has sought to create an autonomous federation there.
But after Trump ordered his forces to withdraw from Kurdish-held areas, allowing for a Turkish offensive launched on October 9, the SDF turned to Russia and Damascus for protection. The government deployment began in mid-October.(ANA)
FA/ANA/27 October 2019-----