The random activities of the US army in extracting oil, stealing it and exporting it from 360 wells belonging to a field in the Syrian province of Hasaka, caused a serious environmental pollution that began to threaten the lives of people and their agricultural lands, after it attacked fish in a lake of surface dams, and many domestic animals in the area.
Local sources in the countryside of Hasaka province told Sputnik that “random oil extraction operations in the (Tishreen oil field) east of the city of Hasaka, which has been controlled by gunmen loyal to the US army since 2015, and the failure to take public safety measures, led to oil pollution in one of the water sources. Fresh water in the town of (Taban), which is the only source of water in the region and for cultivating land and watering livestock, in addition to the fish that live in this spring.
The sources indicated that “the residents of the town and its affiliated communities and villages are standing on the threshold of a health disaster, given the expected risks arising from the high level of pollution in the wells on which they depend as a source of drinking water for them and their families.”
The town of Taban and its surrounding villages, which are (Al-Alkanah, Yafa, Al-Nahhab, Kharab Al-Ajeuz and Dhi Qar), are about 40 km southeast of Al-Hasakah on the eastern Al-Shaddadi road. There are about 15 artesian wells in each village on average.
And the sources added: “A few months ago, we began to notice a change in the color, taste and smell of the waters of the Taban spring, followed by a clear damage to the vegetation cover and the neighboring agricultural lands, and the death of the animals irrigated on its water, in addition to the fish that live in the resulting lake.”
The sources confirmed that “the reason for this is the leakage of toxic materials from (Tishreen oil field), through cracks and pits (gaps), including (chemicals such as lead and sulfur), which are classified as highly toxic substances.”
The sources added that “the water of the spring flows into the lake of the southern dam (the dam of the martyr Basil al-Assad), and if the situation continues as it is, the fish in the lake are doomed to perish, and the artesian wells in this area have begun to suffer from the same problem and highly toxic leaking materials kill plants and animals. Even humans, they contain radioactive materials that cause cancer.”
The sources confirmed that “the local residents in the town of Taban and its villages submitted a large number of complaints to the so-called (Agriculture and Irrigation Authority) of the “Qasd” organization affiliated with the US army and to the leadership of the organization, in which they explained the circumstances of the environmental pollution spread in the area and its existing and potential risks to their health, but to no avail.”
In turn, technical sources knowledgeable in oil affairs in eastern Syria told “Sputnik” that “the (Tishreen) oil field belongs to the Al-Jabsa Oil Fields Directorate in Al-Shaddadi, and the latter belongs to the Syrian Oil Company, indicating that the field includes 360 oil wells, all of which are currently operating, and are controlled by the occupation. The oil is extracted from all of them and pumped to the main station within the field and from there to large tanks in which the oil is filtered, from which it is transported through tanks and stolen outside the borders.
Regarding the circumstances of the pollution, the sources revealed that “the oil extracted from the field is accompanied by the so-called (layer water), which are toxic substances that are currently being disposed of by pumping them through the gaps of the earth and cracks (suppression), through lines with a diameter of (30-40 inches), which leads to their mixing. With the groundwater of artesian wells and the water of the Taban spring, which is a main tributary to the waters of Lake (Martyr Basil Al-Assad Al Janoubi) dam, which is considered the largest surface dam in Al-Hasakah Governorate.
The sources confirmed that “the continuation of the matter portends a serious environmental catastrophe, the first features of which have begun to appear, explaining that the Syrian Petroleum Company was disposing of toxic stratified water within designated areas and by injection method in the village of al-Dabbaghiyah, near the field, by advanced scientific methods, in order to avoid any possible environmental pollution.”
The sources added: “(The Syrian Oil Company) had established before the war the so-called (Ain Taban facility), which is about basins, insulating structures, and retaining walls with the aim of protecting the waters of the Ain Taban spring from any environmental pollution, but this facility is currently completely stopped. As a result of the control of the US army and the militias of the “SDF” organization loyal to it, the area.”
The officers and soldiers of the American army and militiamen loyal to it control all Syrian oil and gas fields in the east of the country, and have been active for several years with continuous theft and looting of these fields through tanks, transport lines and smuggling pipelines towards Iraqi territory and from there to Turkish territory, where large quantities of them reach the spread terrorist organizations Northern Syria and Idlib Governorate.
The quantities of oil that are currently being looted from the occupied Syrian fields are estimated at about 3 million barrels per month of raw materials extracted from the fields of Hasakah, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor governorates.
Syria’s production of crude oil in 2010 reached approximately 360 thousand barrels per day, of which 100 thousand barrels per day came from the fields of the Al-Hasakah Oil Directorate, two barrels in the northeast of Al-Hasakah Governorate. As for wheat, Al-Hasakah Governorate produced approximately one million tons annually, and Syria was considered It is an exporter of oil and wheat, while today it has become an importer of oil and wheat, and it is also having great difficulty in securing them due to Western and US sanctions in accordance with the unjust “Caesar” law.
The areas under the control of the US army are witnessing a state of popular anger and the tribal uprising that is expanding on a daily basis in all areas of the governorates of Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, which witnessed the emergence of large popular demonstrations in which a large group of civilians were killed by the bullets of the US army and gunmen loyal to it with the “SDF”.