LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2019) US President Donald Trump's resolve to relocate troops to certain regions of Syria to "protect" oil fields there is "reckless" in its very wording since one cannot come uninvited to defend something that does not belong to them, Peter Ford, a former UK ambassador in Damascus, told Sputnik in an interview.
After the Syrian government and the Kurds joined efforts earlier in October in light of the Turkish offensive, Trump, who had earlier withdrawn American forces from northern Syria, stated that the US would leave a "small number" of troops in the area to "protect" oil fields there. The administration has since announced that it is working on the plan to never let the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS, outlawed in Russia) and Iran take control of oil fields in the region, with Pentagon saying that it is boosting US positions in Deir Ez-Zor.
"Well first of all I reject the use of the term 'defend' in this context because the oil resources don't belong to the United States in the first place. What they are proposing, and at the moment it does seem to be only a proposal, is totally illegal and also foolish and indeed reckless," Ford said.
As Trump's announcement on oil also came just after Moscow and Ankara signed a memorandum for easing tensions in northern Syria in light of the Turkish offensive against Kurds and agreed on Russian and Syrian patrols in the area, the former ambassador suggested that the "Americans are obviously desperate, partly to save face, in what has been a humiliating couple of weeks" for them.
"They want to save face by claiming they are 'defending the oil' as they choose to put it. But also they are pursuing their anti-Iran, anti-Syria and anti-Russian agenda by leaving a piece of grit in the works. Even when they do something positive like withdrawing still they have to spoil it by leaving a piece of grit in the works," he pointed out.
The real purpose of the US, the diplomat believes, is "not to somehow counter ISIS which is in absolutely no position to try to grab the oil in the first place." To the contrary, ISIS "could represent a threat if indeed the Americans stay around," he argued.
The possible American return to the oil-rich areas, Ford says, would also be a "dreadful" scenario for Damascus and Moscow as it would "negate many of the gains that the government stand to make as a result of the US withdrawal."
Yet, the move may also prove to be extremely dangerous for US troops themselves.
"The issue would not be about how to defend the oil but defend the troops. As these troops would be surrounded by hostile forces. Not from the Syrian government which I believe would not attack them as that would invite heavy retribution from the US air force. No, this small force would possibly be attacked by other militias that are on the ground already, including Iranian militias and also ISIS itself," Ford warned.
These militants would "either attack the Americans or jump in to offer themselves as a new militia," according to the diplomat, who does not rule out that the United States - after abandoning Kurds - is now mulling recruiting a new "mercenary criminal band" that would then protect its forces.
