The United States has been setting up new military bases in northeastern Syria to gain foothold in oil-rich regions of the country, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency has reported.

According to the agency’s sources, US servicemen started creating a base near Tal Brak, a village in northern Al-Hasakah Governorate, in a bid to block Russian servicemen the way to the Rmelan district that houses Syria’s main oil fields. Equipment and materials for the construction have been redeployed from Iraq.

Another base will be set up in former Kurdish fortifications in the south of Al-Hasakah, to control oil extraction in the Deir ez-Zor governorate.

US President Donald Trump announced US troop pullout from the zone of the Turkish military operation in northern Syria, but said that his country would not give up control over oil fields in the north of the Arab republic.

The Russian Defense Ministry has said that the United States were smuggling Syrian oil to other countries, while oil caravans are guarded by US private security companies and special forces.

US Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey said his country’s presence in the region was legitimate as Washington wants to make sure that oil deposits in the northeast of the republic do not fall into the hands of terrorists. In late November, Jeffrey said that in line with the Syrian constitution, the oil belongs to the people of Syria.

Source: TASS