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Militant group Islamic State (IS) on Thursday seized control of the Al-Omar oil field on the Iraqi border as fighters from rival groups withdrew,the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. By capturing the Al-Omar oil field, the militant group now controls most of the gas and oil fields on the province of Deir Ezzor, most of which is already under the IS’ control
“IS took control of the Al-Omar oil field”, located to the north of the Mayadeen, a strategic town it controls, the Observatory said. The capture “comes after (Al-Qaeda affiliate) Al-Nusra Front withdrew from the oil field without a fight”, it added.
Before 2011’s uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Al-Omar oil field produced around 30,000 barrels every day. In November 2013, the Al-Nusra Front and its allies took over the oil field and kept it operational, “selling 10,000 barrels a day”, the Observatory said.
IS loyalists posted a video of the capture on YouTube, with footage a bearded man wearing black Afghani clothes and a black scarf and signs on the road, one of which read “the Euphrates Oil Company — Al-Omar Oil Field”.
Some of the rebel fighters battling Assad’s forces had initially welcomed the IS among their ranks, but in January, Al-Nusra Front and rebel fighters started to turn on them as the IS continued on their quest for hegemony and with their brutal abuses.
“But in four months of fighting (in Deir Ezzor), the rebels who were fighting IS did not receive a single bullet” from nations which backed the revolt, the Free Syrian Army spokesman Omar Abu Leyla complained.
IS has greatly bolstered its resources due to its swift offensive, launched on June 9th in Iraq, and has captured swathes of territory in the western and northern provinces of Iraq as it approaches Baghdad. It has seized several heavy weapons from the fleeing Iraqi troops across the Iraqi border, and is now using them in Syria, giving it a vastly improved arsenal.