Militants Attack Workers Near Government-Held Oil Field In Syria’s Deir Ezzor, Kill Ten (Photos)

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On December 30, militants attacked several vehicles shuttling workers from and to the government-held al-Taim oil field in the eastern Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor.

The workers were boarding the vehicles, a pickup truck, a van and a mini bus, some two kilometers away from the oil field, which is located in the southwestern Deir Ezzor countryside, when they came under attack.

Director of Operations at the Furat Oil Company, Engineer Fawaz Afara, said that ten workers were killed and two others were wounded.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency released several photos from the scene of the attack, including one showing an empty launch tube of a 9K111 Fagot anti-tank guided missile, which was developed in the Soviet Union and is currently manufactured by several states.

Speaking to the Syrian state TV, Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Bassam Tohme blamed the United States and its proxies, who occupy vast parts of Deir Ezzor, for the attack which came amid an unprecedented fuel and energy shortage in Syria.

“The American occupation, through its tools and terrorist groups, wants to cut off the available oil that secures the minimum needs of the Syrian people, and that is why they carried out this blatant attack,” the minister said.

This was not the first attack to target government oil workers in Deir Ezzor. In December of last year, ten people, including seven workers from al-Kharatah oil field, were executed by militants who set up a fake checkpoint in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor. Back then, ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacre.

ISIS may have been also behind the attack on al-Taim oil field workers. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrorist group’s isolated cells in Deir Ezzor desert could obtain the guided missile used in the attack.

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