MILITARY/SYRIA: “United States-backed militia fighters seized Syria’s largest oil field from the Islamic State on Sunday [10-22-17], according to the militia, narrowly beating pro-government forces to an area critical to the war-torn country’s economy.
Although it is unclear what the capacity of the oil field is today, after years of airstrikes by the coalition on the Islamic State’s makeshift oil operations, its capture is a major blow to the militant group, which is losing both territory and sources of revenue.
The militants were driven last week from the Syrian city of Raqqa, once the de facto capital of their self-declared caliphate, and are now struggling to hold onto their last significant territory in Syria, mostly in the neighboring province of Deir al-Zour along the Iraqi border.
Islamic State fighters are being squeezed between two fronts there, with two rival international coalitions advancing on them from different directions: the Syrian government, backed by Russia and Iran; and the American-backed group, called the Syrian Democratic Forces, which took the oil field.
Those two groups are racing to take over strategic territory as the Islamic State loses ground, to better position themselves in the next chapter of Syria’s multilayered war.”
-Anne Barnard, “U.S.-Backed Fighters Take Largest Syrian Oil Field From ISIS,” The New York Times online, Oct. 22, 2017