The Americans are not asleep. Dozens of trucks and armored vehicles drove from Iraq to Hasek province in northeastern Syria. The column went to the American base in the village of Al-Shaddadi.
Despite the repeated statements of Donald Trump about his intentions to withdraw troops from Syria, he is clearly not in a hurry to curtail his military presence here.
The purpose of the transfer of army units is not reported. However, Syrian media claim that the point lies in oil. The Americans control the largest oil fields east of the Euphrates. Additional forces, most likely, were needed to ensure the extraction of black gold. Back in December last year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the United States was selling oil to Turkey from the captured fields.
“When ISIS* came and brought Nusra* out, or rather, ISIS* merged with it, they began to steal this oil and sell it”, – he said in an interview with the Chinese television channel Phoenix.
“To whom? The sales went through Turkey. And now the US is stealing oil and selling it to Turkey. Ankara is an accomplice, it’s not a problem for them”.
Assad then noted that Turkey had previously bought oil from terrorists, and now it is buying it from Washington. Obviously, the United States will not give up such a tidbit as the Syrian deposits.
Russia is also increasing its military presence in the north-east of the country. According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, a convoy of Russian military equipment entered the province of Rakka and headed for the settlement of Kamyshly. Analysts attribute this to the increased US activity in the region.
If the majority of Syrians dislike Americans, then everyone here is grateful to the Russians. Last weekend, residents of the province of Deir ez-Zor told the reporters that the bridge over the Euphrates, built by our military a year ago, literally saved them. Farmers established supplies to the governorate of the same name, and communication between settlements on both sides of the river was restored.
“This bridge is the only one. Our relatives on the other side of the river used to go back and forth. After all 12 bridges were destroyed by the American aircraft, they could not see each other”, – engineer Malik al-Omar says. Now, he says, people are visiting each other.
Although the country is still turbulent, peaceful life is gradually improving. Residents of settlements along the M5 Damascus-Aleppo highway, which recently provided safe passage, repair houses, organize roadside services, and grow crops on adjacent lands.
The M5 highway is one of the main in Syria, it connects the capital with an important economic center and one of the country’s largest cities – Aleppo. Until recently, militants controlled it. The last section came under the control of the Syrian government most recently when troops entered the city of Sarakib in the east of Idlib province.
*-Terrorist organization banned in Russia.