Featured image: Omid Kabar a commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
On October 1, Omid Kabar a commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said at a funeral for SDF fighters who were killed in Raqqa city that the SDF will not handover al-Tabqah town or any other area to the Syrian government.
“The regime says we will hand over our regions or al-Tabqah town to the regime’s army … Our people must realize that within five years of our revolution as the People Protection Units and after our alliance with other factions in the name of Syrian Democratic Forces, we have not handed over any inch of our land… We will never hand it over. Our law is clear. The land that is watered with the blood of the martyrs belongs to the people and we will not hand them over to any force,” Kabar said.
Moreover, Kabar claimed that over 300 Syrian Army (SAA) soldiers defected to the SDF during the “last period”. However, Kabar did reveal no details or proofs.
Kabar’s statement is a reflection of the SDF policy that publicly refuses working with the Syrian government in any way. However, in reality the SDF is not only working with the Syrian government to run the areas under its control, but also cooperating with key figures of the so called “Syrian Regime”.
While Kabar was attacking the Syrian government, Syria Water Resources Minister Nabil al-Hassan discussed with Kirill Molodtsov, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, in Damascus plans to repair the Euphrates, Tishrin and Baath dams on the Euphrates river, according to the Syrian state TV.
As the three dams are under the SDF control, it will be impossible to repair any of them without an agreement between the SDF and the Syrian government. Such an agreement might be much more possible than some want to believe.
Kurdish sources confirmed on September 14 that Syrian mobile network provider Syriatel services are again available in Raqqa countryside, al-Tabqah town and some parts of Raqqa city itself. The services were back after Syriatel repaired its towers in the SDF-held areas.
What’s interesting in this is that Syriatel is owned by Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Syria president Bashar al-Assad. The SDF closely worked with Makhluf to restore communication in its areas.
Furthermore, the Kurdish-Iraqi news agency Rudaw confirmed in a report on June 7, that the SDF handed over the management of the Rmelan oil fields in al-Hasakah governorate to Syria Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry. Later, it was confirmed that the Syrian government started shipping oil to its areas from Rmelan fields through the Khanasir road.
The SDF “success” in running and managing the large areas it has captured in Syria is a result of cloose cooperation with the Syrian government. The Euphrates dam or the recently captured oil and gas fields by the SDF in the Deir Ezzor governorate will not likely be an exception.
Right now the SDF is not able to fully consumption, export or even refining the oil of these fields on its own. With the US and EU sanctions it will also impossible to the SDF to allow foreign companies to invest in these fields.
If the SDF is planning to make any sort of profit out of these oil and gas fields, the only way will be by working with the Syrian government. Rmelan oil fields are for sure a live example of this.
