BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamist rebels led by al Qaeda-linked fighters seized Syria’s largest oilfield yesterday, cutting off President Bashar al-Assad’s access to almost all local crude reserves, activists said.
There was no immediate comment from the government and it was not possible to verify the reports of the capture independently.
But the loss of the al-Omar oil field in the eastern Deir al-Zor province, if confirmed, could leave Assad’s forces almost completely reliant on imported oil in their highly mechanised military campaign to put down a 2-1/2-year uprising.
“Now, nearly all of Syria’s usable oil reserves are in the hands of the Nusra Front and other Islamist units… The regime’s neck is now in Nusra’s hands,” said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Assad’s forces have gained momentum against the rebels in recent months, partially due to support from the Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim milita Hezbollah and its regional ally Iran.
In the northern province of Aleppo yesterday, army air strikes killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens, most of them civilians, the Observatory said.
But opposition fighters, particularly powerful Islamist factions, still hold large swathes of territory in northern and eastern Syria.
Foreign powers are trying to bring together the warring parties at an international peace conference, dubbed ‘Geneva 2,’ planned for mid-December. Both the Syrians and their international partners are at odds over terms for the talks.