ISIS militants attack oil well, tankers in Deir ez-Zor
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) launched on Sunday night an attack on an oil well and tankers in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria.
A military source from the Syrian government forces in Deir ez-Zor said that the militants specifically targeted an oil well owned by the al-Qaterji Group near the al-Kharata oil field in southern Deir ez-Zor using machine guns.
The source stated that the militants set the field ablaze and engaged in a firefight with the guard posts belonging to the al-Qaterji group.
Muhammad al-Qaterji, killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike in Damascus, was the owner of al-Qaterji Group which works closely with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to coordinate providing of millions of barrels of oil and petroleum products to be shipped to Syria, as well as millions of dollars in payments back to Iran.
He was the owner of the paramilitary group known as al-Qaterji militia, which is responsible for transporting crude oil from northern and eastern regions of Syria towards government-held areas.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had previously sanctioned al-Qaterji and a number of fuel procurement networks that operate in Syria, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to secure deliveries of crude oil, fuel, and liquefied natural gas for the “Syrian regime.
Moreover, the clashes resulted in the deaths of two guards, while others fled to evade further attacks from ISIS. The militants subsequently burned the guard posts before retreating from the area.
Additionally, the source noted that after withdrawing, the militants targeted oil tankers parked in front of the well, rendering them inoperable.