American forces have deployed to the Conoco gas plant in the eastern province of Deir-ez-Zor to repulse any possible attack by Iranian militias on the facility, which is under the control of the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) militia.
Turkey’s Anadolu Agency on Thursday quoted local unnamed sources as saying that “American forces have deployed in the Conoco gas plant” and said that the U.S. had carried out a strike at dawn on Iranian militias in the town of Khasham.
The sources said that the Iranian militias continued to bombard YPG positions in the area after the American strike, while the Kurdish forces responded with heavy bombardment on the militias’ positions in the towns of Khasham and Marat north of Deir-ez-Zor.
A week earlier, Iranian militias supporting the Bashar al-Assad regime were hit by American warplanes on their advance toward the Conoco gas field, resulting in dozens of deaths.
Russian media said that a number of “Russian military contractors were killed” in this American strike, which was in support of the YPG.
On Sept. 23, 2017, the YPG took control of the Conoco gas plant, the largest natural gas production facility in the northern Deir-ez-Zor countryside. These forces control the biggest natural gas and oil fields in Syria, with 70 percent of the country’s energy sources under its control.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
