New Russian and Syrian reinforcements in border areas in northern Syria… Moscow accuses the US of transporting Syrian oil out of the country, describing it as “robbery and looting at the state level”

Syrian oil is being shipped out of the country under US military escort, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in remarks carried by Russia Today that what Washington is doing in Syria is “burglary and looting at the state level”.

He added that the ministry had published satellite images of oil convoys heading out of Syria.

He explained: “The images provided by space intelligence, that Syrian oil was extracted, under the strong guard of US military.”

“Oil is being transported by tanks outside Syria for refining, before and after defeating IS terrorists east of the Euphrates”.

There was no comment from Washington on what the Russian Defense Ministry said as of 07:30 (GMT).

Moscow and Damascus on Friday sent additional military reinforcements to areas in northeastern Syria bordering Turkey, the day after Washington announced the deployment of new troops to Kurdish-controlled areas to protect oil fields.

US troops withdrew from several military border posts with Turkey in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Hasakah in the northeast, which was seen as a green light for Ankara to carry out an attack on the Kurds on October 9.

The Kurds, in turn, resorted to the Syrian government and reached an agreement with him to deploy troops in areas they controlled.

Turkey signed an agreement with Russia, an ally of the regime, which allowed the latter to deploy troops in areas from which the Kurds withdrew.

At dawn on Friday, an AFP correspondent saw a military convoy of hundreds of regime forces arriving in the border town of Kobani (Ain Arab).

Dozens of soldiers were on a truck waving their machine guns and Syrian flags as they entered the town, chanting “One, One, One, The Syrian People”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that 180 Syrian military vehicles had entered the town.

Russia sent on Friday to the border areas between Syria and Turkey reinforcements by about 300 additional military, who were previously deployed in Chechnya, as part of its agreement with Turkey.

These elements, according to a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, will ensure the safety of civilians and provide assistance to Kurdish forces in withdrawals from what Ankara calls the “safe area”, which extends 30 kilometers and 440 kilometers on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Near the city of Qamishli, an AFP correspondent on Friday saw the launch of a Russian patrol consisting of two armored vehicles from the airport of the city of Qamishli, controlled by the Syrian regime and headed west towards the border town of Darbasiyah.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also pointed out that a new Russian patrol toured the countryside of Darbasiyah at the border.

The Syrian army continued its deployment in the countryside of Qamishli on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

According to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA), units of the Syrian army “moved from the city of Qamishli to deploy in the western countryside of the city to face the Turkish aggression and protect the people”.

Under the Russian-Turkish agreement, Kurdish forces have until Tuesday to withdraw from the border areas controlled by Turkey before starting to conduct Russian and Turkish patrols in a border strip in the region.

Ultimately, Turkey wants to establish a 440-kilometer “safe zone” on Syrian territory, and is seeking to repatriate a large part of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees residing on its territory since the conflict erupted in 2011.

It suspended its offensive against Kurdish fighters after taking control of a large area between the cities of Ras Al Ain and Tal Abyad, a length of 120 kilometers, and reached an agreement with Russia.

Human Rights Watch on Friday accused Turkey of “forcibly” deporting refugees to Syria in the months before its attack.

Despite the truce, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “clashes of varying frequency between factions loyal to Turkey on the one hand, and the Syria Democratic Forces on the other on the axes of the countryside of Ras Al Ain and Tal Tamr, and axes in the countryside of Tel Abyad”.

Near the town of Ain Issa, a family of five people, including three children, was wounded in a Turkish airstrike north of Raqqa.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Turkish drone targeted their car on Qazah Ali road in Ain Issa countryside north of Raqqa city.

Syria Democratic Forces, whose YPG is the backbone of the United States’ main ally in fighting the Islamic State, have been seen by Ankara as “terrorist”.

The commander of the Syria Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, expressed reservations about the Russian-Turkish agreement.

But he said on Wednesday he was ready to consider a German proposal on sending international troops to the border region between Syria and Turkey.

The plan was raised at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

Abdi is expected to visit Washington soon, although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday urged the United States to hand over the commander of Syria Democratic Forces, saying he was wanted because he was a “terrorist.”

After years of fighting with the Islamic State, the SDF is now in control of Syria’s most prominent oil fields in the provinces of Deir Ezzor and Hassakeh.

The Pentagon announced on Thursday that it planned to strengthen its military presence in northeastern Syria to protect oil fields.

The most prominent oil fields are in northeast and eastern Syria (Deir Ezor and Hasakah governorates), and therefore are not located in the same areas from which the Americans withdrew or witnessed battles between Turkish forces and their Syrian pro-Syrian factions on one hand and the SDF.

US President Donald Trump announced on December 5 a decision to withdraw his forces from Kurdish-controlled areas that have fought for years with Islamic State with US support.

“The United States is committed to strengthening its position in northeast Syria in coordination with our partners in the SDF by sending additional military support to prevent oil fields there from falling back into ISIS or other destabilizing players”, a Pentagon official said on Thursday.

The Syrian government also wants to re-establish control over the country’s rich natural resources.

The SDF managed to expel ISIS fighters from their last stronghold in eastern Syria in March.

Kurds are holding tens of thousands of jihadist jihadists and their families in prisons and camps, and have repeatedly warned Turkey that military intervention could lead to their escape.