ISIS seizes last major Syrian oilfield

Homs- The Islamic State (ISIS) fighters have captured the last major oilfield under Syrian government control during deadly clashes over a vast central desert zone, a monitoring group said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Jazal, a medium-sized field that lies to the north west of the Roman ruin city of Palmyra, was now under the “full control” of the militants. It said it killed 25 fighters, including non-Syrian jihadists. The state of the equipment needed to extract oil, which is vital to the monetary supplies of both sides, is unclear.

For a once massive oil-exporter, this is just the latest in a string of major losses, which has left them with only a fraction of the country’s territory, and with very limited energy resources, a problem which makes their ongoing civil war look all the worse.

The Islamic State group holds about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared “caliphate”. Greece is saying that the request, which runs through September 24, is under consideration, but Reuters reports that a story in the Russian press said the request has been denied.

The Jazal field has changed hands before, with IS briefly capturing it in June before regime troops retook it.

ISIS has taken over most of Syria’s oil fields, concentrated in the eastern province of Deir Al-Zor along the Iraqi border.