REUTERS: Islamist rebels led by al Qaeda-linked fighters seized Syria’s largest oilfield on Saturday, cutting off President Bashar al-Assad’s access to almost all local crude reserves, activists said.
There was no immediate comment from the government and it was not possible to verify the reports of the capture independently.
But the loss of the al-Omar oil field in the eastern Deir al-Zor province, if confirmed, could leave Assad’s forces almost completely reliant on imported oil in their highly mechanized military campaign to put down a 2-1/2-year uprising… (more)
