The Kurdish-occupied area is where the biggest producing oil and gas wells are in Syria, with the US military in charge of the production capacity, which they sell in Erbil, the Kurdish area in Iraq. By the US preventing Damascus from their oil, the Syrian people are left with three hours of electricity per day, and limited gasoline.
Palmyra was seized by ISIS in May 2015, and partially destroyed, before it was recaptured by the Syrian army. ISIS regained control of the city in December 2016, and three months later the SAA retook the town.
US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Syria in December 2018 but was prevented by following through. Again, in October 2019 he ordered the troops to come home, and again the 'Deep State' prevented his order from fulfillment, but the troop size was cut from 2,500 to 900.
Presently, ISIS does not exist in Syria, other than small bands of sleeper cells that can be used as assets by the US. The US Central Command recently made a show of launching three rounds of heavy strikes on what they claimed were ISIS training camps in Syria. This was staged to demonstrate the need for US troops in Syria.
Charles Lister, a Senior Fellow and the Director of Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, recently wrote, "US troops are the glue holding together the only meaningful challenge to an ISIS resurgence."
Lister makes the case for continued US military occupation in Syria. Not surprisingly, he explains the American presence is not about fighting terrorism, but instead wrote, "Our presence in a quarter of Syria's territory creates significant geopolitical leverage for the US in the region and presents a counterweight to American adversaries."
The threat of an ISIS resurgence only exists as an excuse to keep the US in Syria. Staged events demonstrate the danger, which is not real but provides a cover story for a political objective.
US forces played an instrumental role in training and equipping 225,000 security force partners to challenge ISIS and hold liberated territory.
According to an interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. by Tucker Carlson on November 6, Trump said, "Get them out!" referring to the US forces in Syria.
Trump tried twice to get them out, and he may view the move as part of his campaign to seek out and remove the "Deep State" who hampered his previous term in office.
The US support of the Kurds has cost billions, and it is hard to convince Republicans that a Communist state in Syria should be on the US payroll. Trump has said he wants to end all wars. By decoupling from the Kurds in Syria, Trump can repair the US-Turkish relationship, and this will have positive benefits for the Syrian people.
If Syrian oil is controlled by Damascus, hospitals, schools, universities, and other infrastructure can be rebuilt. The electric grid can be repaired and citizens can begin to have refrigerators that are cold and prevent food poisoning, and hospitals can depend on the constant use of medical machines such as dialysis.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
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