| New York Times | - |
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A group of Syrian
rebel brigades, including an affiliate of Al Qaeda, seized a large oil
and gas field from government forces on Saturday, opposition activists
said, further depriving the government of President Bashar al-Assad of ...
Syrian Rebels Seize Control of Oil Field From Assad
By BEN HUBBARD
Published: November 23, 2013
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A group of Syrian rebel brigades, including an
affiliate of Al Qaeda, seized a large oil and gas field from government
forces on Saturday, opposition activists said, further depriving the
government of President Bashar al-Assad of the resources it needs to remain solvent.
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Videos posted online showed scores of black-clad rebels walking through a
large arch over an entrance to the Omar oil field, rummaging through
its buildings and standing atop tanks.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition
group that monitors the war, said a number of rebel brigades seized the
area after an overnight battle and the withdrawal of government troops.
Among the groups that participated were the Islam Army, which was formed
east of Damascus, the Syrian capital, and the Nusra Front, which is
affiliated with Al Qaeda.
Two and a half years of civil war in Syria
and strict international sanctions have battered the country’s oil
sector, once an important source of government revenue.
Syria’s oil and gas fields are concentrated in the country’s largely
rebel-controlled north and east. Most have been taken over by rebels or
Kurdish militias, some of which finance their operations by selling the
small amounts of crude they produce or processing it locally into usable
gasoline products.
It was unclear whether the field’s production infrastructure had been
damaged and whether the rebels would be able to maintain control, much
less resume production.
Also on Saturday, a British think tank released a report saying more
than 11,000 children had been killed since the uprising began in March
2011, including hundreds who were shot by snipers or executed after
capture and 112 who were tortured.
The report, published by the Oxford Research Group, based its findings
on the databases of four Syrian organizations that seek to document the
war.
But not all agreed with its findings. Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said many of its numbers appeared
to be high.
His organization, which was not cited in the report, has documented the
deaths of only 6,490 children as of mid-November, including only about
20 who had been tortured.
He said any documentation of deaths in Syria must navigate efforts by
both sides to exaggerate their enemies’ crimes and whitewash their own.
“Now in Syria we have a huge problem with propaganda, both from the Syrian regime and from the rebels,” he said.
Government forces carried out a series of airstrikes in and around the
northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, killing more than 40 people, most
of them reported by activists to be civilians.
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been divided between government- and
rebel-controlled zones for more than a year, although the rebels control
the territory north of the city to the Turkish border and have used it
to organize and manage supplies.
Still, they remain largely helpless against the government’s air power.
Airstrikes in rebel-held parts of the city killed 22 people, including
one woman and four children, said the observatory. One strike appeared
to be aimed at a rebel headquarters but hit a market nearby, it said.
Other airstrikes hit in and near the rebel-held city of Al Bab, killing
22 people, according to the observatory and Bari Abdul-Latif, an
antigovernment activist in Al Bab who was reached via Skype.
Mr. Abdul-Latif said that warplanes remained in the sky throughout much
of the day and that the strikes hit near a school and the headquarters
of a local aid organization.
The observatory said at least seven government soldiers were also killed in clashes in Aleppo Province on Saturday.
The Syrian state news media did not comment on the fighting near the oil fields or on the airstrikes in Aleppo Province.
They did report that Syria’s reconciliation minister, Ali Haidar, had
survived an assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire on one of his
cars as it drove through a government-controlled area near the
Mediterranean coast. Mr. Haidar was not in the car, but his driver was
killed.
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