Russian, American companies request to sign deals with Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria: Official

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Several Russian and American service companies applied to work in the areas of Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria, senior official told North Press on Sunday.

“We are intending to study requests by many Russian and American companies to operate in north and east Syria,” Abed Hamed Al-Mehbash, the co-chair of the autonomous administration of North and East Syria said.

“The companies requested to invest in the service sector in the region,” he said.

Al-Mehbash didn’t mention further details about the companies.

Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham revealed that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) signed a deal with an American oil company to modernize oilfields in northeast Syria.

Sources named the oil company as Delta Crescent Energy LLC, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Delaware.

So far, no SDF official commented on the deal.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned the deal to modernize the oil industry in areas controlled by the U.S.-backed SDF in northeastern Syria, the state news agency SANA reported.

“This agreement is considered an integrated and aggravated theft and can only be described as a deal between thieves who are stealing and thieves who are buying, constituting an assault against Syria's sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement.

Al-Mehbash rejected the Syrian Foreign Ministry accusations, saying any investment in the region aimed at serving the Syria people.

(Reporting by Hisham Arafat and Hamza Hamki)