The Syrian Petroleum Company has begun extracting oil from newly secured fields, sending production to the Homs and Baniyas refineries, according to Reuters.
Among the newly seized sites is the al-Omar oilfield, the country’s largest, which fell under government control following a lightning offensive against the US‑backed Kurdish forces who had taken over it for approximately ten years and used it as a military base.
Currently, Damascus seeks to revive its war-ravaged energy sector and reassert authority over vital oil and gas infrastructure.
Earlier this week, the two sides announced a temporary ceasefire, halting a Syrian government offensive that had pushed its forces to the doorstep of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Conflicts in three contested Aleppo neighborhoods in early January triggered a sweeping government offensive that stripped the SDF of most of their territory nationwide in a matter of days.
The ceasefire sought to give the Syrian Democratic Forces time to set a 14-point plan agreed with Damascus, under which the Kurdish militia would disband, and its fighters would integrate into the Syrian army.
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