Syrian troops fighting Kurdish forces in north-eastern Syria have seized the country’s largest oilfield.<\/p>\n
The Omar facility and nearby gas fields are under army control after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pulled back, officials and monitors say. Earlier the army captured the strategic Tabqa dam on the Euphrates river.<\/p>\n
The push came after the SDF announced it would redeploy east of the Euphrates, following deadly clashes last week. That withdrawal followed talks with US officials.<\/p>\n
Ongoing fighting in the area stems from the breakdown of an agreement between SDF and the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is seeking to integrate Kurdish bodies into Syrian institutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
On Friday, in an apparent good-will gesture, al-Sharaa said he would make Kurdish a national language and make the Kurdish new year an official holiday. The decree is the first formal recognition of Kurdish national rights since Syria’s independence in 1946.<\/p>\n
The US-backed SDF then announced its pullout east of the Euphrates river. <\/p>\n
Kurdish forces have been controlling swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and north-east, much of it gained during the fight against the Islamic State group over the past decade.<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, Syrian troops continued their eastward push. They entered the town of Tabqa on the south-western bank of the Euphrates and nearby dam on Saturday.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Syrian officials announced they had seized Omar, Syria’s largest oil field, on the eastern side of the river. The facility has been a major source of revenue for the SDF.<\/p>\n
This claim was supported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group. It said the SDF had withdrawn from “entire villages and towns of the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor [province]” as well as the Omar and Tanak oil fields early on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Syrian authorities accused the SDF of blowing up two bridges on the Euphrates River, including the new al-Rashid bridge in the city of Raqqa.<\/p>\n
Last week at least 12 people were reported killed in clashes between the two sides in the northern city of Aleppo.<\/p>\n
The latest fighting comes despite attempts by the US to broker a ceasefire. Washington has long backed the SDF, but it also supports the Syrian government.<\/p>\n
Following the ousting of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, President al-Sharaa has been seeking to integrate Kurdish military and civilian bodies into Syria’s national institutions.<\/p>\n
In March 2025, the SDF signed a deal with the government to that effect. Almost a year on, the agreement is still not implemented, with each side blaming the other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syrian troops fighting Kurdish forces in north-eastern Syria have seized the country’s largest oilfield. The Omar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[944,3377,1057,755,5388,285,610,173,4102],"class_list":["post-81646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-army","tag-countrys","tag-field","tag-forces","tag-kurdish","tag-largest","tag-oil","tag-seizes","tag-syrian"],"yoast_head":"\n
Syrian army seizes country's largest oil field from Kurdish forces - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Syrian army seizes country's largest oil field from Kurdish forces\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-18T13:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c1be2f30-f46b-11f0-a0d3-85939bf94401.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Syrian army seizes country's largest oil field from Kurdish forces - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Syrian army seizes country's largest oil field from Kurdish forces","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2026-01-18T13:25:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c1be2f30-f46b-11f0-a0d3-85939bf94401.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=81646"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"Syrian army seizes country’s largest oil field from Kurdish forces","datePublished":"2026-01-18T13:25:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=81646"},"wordCount":432,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c1be2f30-f46b-11f0-a0d3-85939bf94401.png","keywords":["army","countrys","field","forces","Kurdish","largest","Oil","seizes","Syrian"],"articleSection":["Top Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=81646","url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","name":"Syrian army seizes country's largest oil field from Kurdish forces - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c1be2f30-f46b-11f0-a0d3-85939bf94401.png","datePublished":"2026-01-18T13:25:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c1be2f30-f46b-11f0-a0d3-85939bf94401.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c1be2f30-f46b-11f0-a0d3-85939bf94401.png","width":1024,"height":576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cx20n55yxrlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Syrian army seizes country’s largest oil field from Kurdish forces"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}