Syrian Army Preparing for Recapturing Energy-Rich Regions Occupied by US-backed Kurds

The Arabic-language al-Hadath news quoted the Russian papers as saying that the Syrian intelligence service rests assured that Kurds and the US officers played a key role in evacuating ISIL’s Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and seven of his close aids from his hideout in Iraq to a US-run base in Ra’as al-Ein and then to Rmeilan in Hasaka province in Northeastern Syria.

Al-Hadath further said that the Kurdish militants are likely to retreat from Eastern Syria in the new year, adding that the Syrian Army’s elite units are now prepared to take control of oil and gas fields on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates River that the Kurds occupied with the US back up.

In went on to say that the Syrian Army plan to use an assault strategy similar to the Iraqi troops’ Kirkuk liberation operation.

According to the report, the Syrian Army Command plans to give the last ultimatum to the Kurds to deliver control of oil and gas fields to the government troops before waging the attack.

Militant-affiliated websites reported earlier this month that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured three more regions in Eastern Deir Ezzur and deployed closer to the Syrian Army position, increasing the possibility of direct confrontation with government forces.

The websites reported that the SDF imposed control over the villages of Abu Hammam and al-Hayan and the town of Daranj in Eastern countryside of Deir Ezzur city near the defense lines of the army men.

The websites added that the SDF’s advances close to the army positions doubled the possibility of direct confrontation between the two sides.