The Pentagon: The main goal of our presence in Syria is to fight ISIS, not to protect oil

The US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby announced in a press conference, on Monday, that the US forces in Syria are no longer responsible for protecting oil and that their only duty is to fight ISIS, in an amendment to the goals previously set by former President Donald Trump.

John Kirby said, “Defense Department employees and subcontractors are not authorized to extend a helping hand to a private company seeking to exploit oil resources in Syria, nor to its employees or agents.”

In response to a question about the US forces ’mission in Syria, he added that the US military deployed in northeastern Syria, numbering about 900,“ are there to support the mission against ISIS in Syria this is the reason for their presence there. ”

The vast majority of the oil fields in eastern and northeastern Syria remain outside the control of the Assad regime, as they are under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, whose oil revenues are the main source of its income.

In the year 2020, an agreement was reached between the American oil company, “Delta Crescent Energy” and the Syrian Democratic Forces, allowing the latter to escape from a wide range of sanctions imposed by the United States on the Assad regime.

Trump had said in 2019, when he reversed his decision to withdraw all US forces from northeastern Syria, that he would keep a few hundred soldiers “where there is oil.”

The US administration defended itself from accusing it of benefiting financially from Syrian oil, and the Pentagon confirmed that the presence of its forces in the oil regions in Syria to prevent this oil from reaching ISIS.