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If U.S. Withdraws from Syria, the Oil Fields Will Go to Iran
(Washington Post) Josh Rogin - In Syria, the U.S. and its partners control almost all of the oil. If the U.S. leaves, that oil will likely fall into the hands of Iran. "We have this 30% slice of Syria, which is probably where 90% of the pre-war oil production took place," said David Adesnik, director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "This is leverage." The actual people holding the land with the oil are mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces that were trained and armed by Washington. If the U.S. troops leave, the Kurds are likely to cut a deal with the regime. Then the Iranians will move into the area, completing their land bridge of control from Tehran to Beirut. Melissa Dalton, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Iran now has more than 250,000 proxy forces directly or indirectly under its influence around the region.