Syria seeks Azerbaijan's help to develop oil and gas fields
The presidents of Syria and Azerbaijan discussed how Baku could play a role in restoring Syria's oil and gas sector in their first-ever meeting in Turkey last weekend, sources familiar with the issue told Middle East Eye.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, where they held talks on how to move forward after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria.
One source familiar with the discussions told Middle East Eye that the Syrian government is interested in getting Azerbaijan's state oil company, Socar, to help develop oil and gas fields in northeastern Syria, an area largely controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) armed group.
Earlier this month, Azerbaijan, a close ally of Israel, hosted deconfliction meetings between Turkish and Israeli officials, after Israel's military struck three military bases in Syria out of concern that Turkey's forces might seize them.
'Syria wants to counterbalance every regional player. Having both Turkey and Azerbaijan involved in operating the oil and gas fields would provide a sense of assurance regarding Israel,' said a second source familiar with the Syrian government's thinking.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
In January, Elchin Ibadov, CEO of Socar's Turkish arm Socar Türkiye, expressed the company's readiness to participate in Syria's energy sector.
'If Socar Türkiye is assigned a role aligned with the shared strategic interests of our countries - Azerbaijan and Türkiye - and there is demand for this energy, then it is our duty to fulfill it,' he said.
In March, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi and Sharaa signed a unification deal that effectively granted the Damascus government control over the energy fields. However, Sharaa's government has yet to physically take over the sites.
A regional official familiar with the SDF-Damascus agreement said Damascus plans to divide the income generated from the fields, with 70 percent allocated to the central government and 30 percent reserved for local needs.
A Turkish official noted that if Azerbaijan and Syria develop a closer working relationship, it could help Damascus alleviate Israeli concerns about the new transitional government, which Israeli officials have described as 'terrorists'.
US lobbied Turkey and Israel to hold military deconfliction talks on Syria Read More »
According to the Syrian news outlet Enab Baladi, Syria currently produces 110,000 barrels of oil per day, a sharp decline from the 385,000 barrels per day produced in 2010 before the civil war broke out.
Of this, 100,000 barrels come from fields under SDF control, while 10,000 barrels are produced by the new Syrian administration. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated in 2015 that Syria possessed 2.5 billion barrels of proved oil reserves.
For natural gas, Enab Baladi reports that the country produces 9.1 million cubic meters per day, down from 30 million cubic meters per day in 2010.
The new government currently produces 8 million cubic meters, while the SDF controls 1.1 million cubic meters. In 2015, the EIA estimated Syria's gas reserves at 240 billion cubic meters, including both wet and dry gas.
Following the fall of the Assad government in December, most global energy companies withdrew from Syria. However, earlier this year, the EU and the UK lifted some sanctions on the energy sector, including those affecting several banks and state-owned oil companies.
The US also eased restrictions by issuing General License No. 24 (GL24), which permits transactions with Syrian governing institutions under their new rulers.
It also authorises the sale, supply, storage, or donation of energy - including petroleum, petroleum products, natural gas and electricity - within Syria.
The licence is valid for six months and is set to expire on 8 June, with the possibility of renewal depending on the situation on the ground.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Washington toughened its conditions for further sanctions relief, asking Sharaa's government to crack down on some armed groups and expel Palestinian political parties from the country.
Sanctions had previously forced 11 international companies - responsible for 49.6 percent of Syria's total crude oil production in 2010 - to abandon operations in the country.
MEE has asked for comments both from the Azerbaijani and Syrian authorities.
An MEE correspondent contributed to this report.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Carbon footprint from Israel's war on Gaza exceeds 100 countries
The carbon footprint from Israel's war on Gaza will exceed the emissions of around 100 countries, according to new research. A study published by the Social Science Research Network, first reported by The Guardian on Friday, found that the climate cost of Israel's destruction of the Palestinian enclave, clearing debris and rebuilding the territory could exceed 31m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. That is more than the annual 2023 emissions of many countries, including Costa Rica, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. The study found that Hamas' rockets and bunker fuel made up for 0.2 percent of those emissions, while the supply and use of weapons, tanks and other ordnance by Israel made up 50 percent. It found that the overall impact of Israel's wars on Gaza and Lebanon, as well as its recent military confrontations with Yemen and Iran, was equivalent to running 84 gas power plants for a year. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters It is the third such study looking into the climate cost of Israel's bombardment of Gaza. 'This report is a staggering and sobering reminder of the ecological and environmental cost of Israel's genocidal campaign on the planet and its besieged people,' Zena Agha, policy analyst for Palestinian policy network Al-Shabaka, told The Guardian. 'But this is also the US, UK and EU's war, all of which have provided seemingly limitless military resources to enable Israel to devastate the most densely populated place on the planet.' The research found that 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions since the war began came from the US sending 50,000 tonnes of weapons and supplies to Israel. A further 20 percent was attributed to Israeli aircraft reconnaissance and bombing campaigns, as well as fuel from tanks and other military vehicles. Around 7 percent of emissions from the conflict were from diesel-guzzling generators in Gaza, which Palestinians rely on due to Israel's blockade and the destruction of solar panels and the enclave's only power plant. Before the war, solar energy made up a quarter of Gaza's electricity - one of the highest densities of rooftop solar panels in the world. Israeli forces have destroyed large swathes of that solar infrastructure. The most significant cost to the climate will come from the reconstruction of Gaza, the study finds. Rebuilding 436,000 apartments, along with hundreds of schools, mosques, clinics and other buildings - in addition to 5km of roads - will produce 29.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Underestimate The research used open-source data, media reports, and data from aid groups and UN agencies. The actual climate cost of Israel's war is likely to be much higher than the estimates, due to Israel's media blockade masking the full extent of environmental damage to the enclave. 'This conflict in Gaza shows that the numbers are substantial, greater than the entire greenhouse gas emissions of many entire countries, and must be included for accurate climate change and mitigation targets,' said Frederick Otu-Larbi, co-author of the report and lecturer at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Ghana. Israel's war on Gaza caused major environmental damage, UN says Read More » Currently, there is no obligation for states to report military emissions to the UN's climate body. The UN last year said that Israel's war had created a devastating environmental crisis in Gaza, destroying sanitation systems, leaving tonnes of debris from explosive devices and causing major pollution. It found that water, sanitation and hygiene systems in Gaza were almost entirely defunct, with the strip's five wastewater treatment plants shut down. Israel's war is exacerbating an already deteriorating environment in Gaza, where over 92 percent of the water was deemed unfit for human consumption in 2020. Climate change and Israel's attacks on environmental infrastructure have long plagued Gaza and other parts of occupied Palestine. After the Nakba - the ethnic cleansing and destruction of Palestinian communities in 1948 by Zionist forces - the Jewish National Fund (JNF) planted monoculture forests of pine trees, often on the ruins of Palestinian villages. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel revealed in 2013 that the JNF's projects had a devastating impact on local biodiversity. In 2021, Fadel al-Jadba, director of the horticulture department at the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, told Middle East Eye that there had been a noticeable decline in agricultural production over the past decade.
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
War on Gaza: The world is turning, but Israel has yet to reckon with its crimes
As the father of a four-year-old daughter and a newborn baby, as I watch the international response to the genocide in Gaza, I cannot help but wonder: at what age will my children cease to be considered children, and their lives be deemed less important? The world is shocked at the number of children being killed and starved in Gaza, but there remains no substantive critique of what Israel has done over these past 19 months to all Palestinians in Gaza. The threshold of demands has been lowered to merely alleviating the humanitarian crisis. Israel has succeeded in destroying Gaza's infrastructure, healthcare system, municipalities, education networks, families, mosques and churches - in short, every framework that organised human life. But now, having exhausted its 'target bank' and with nothing left to bomb, Israel is striking refugee tent camps and burning people alive. Such cruelty, along with the passage of time and mounting international pressure, have led to a turning point, both globally and within Israeli society. Despite the support provided to Israel by two successive US presidents and the consensus among Democrats and Republicans alike to give Israel a free hand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to defeat Hamas or secure the release of the remaining hostages. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Across the spectrum, Israel's political establishment adopted a revenge narrative from day one, priming the Israeli public to be complicit in its forthcoming crimes. Israel's failure was not its inability to free the hostages or disarm Hamas. As early as November 2023, Israel could have reached a deal to free all the hostages, while various proposals have been advanced to settle the conflict, including bringing in other entities, such as the Palestinian Authority, to govern Gaza. But Israel's real objective is clear: to empty Gaza of its population. As Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's recent statements candidly reveal, the true aim of the war is to conquer Gaza, expel its Palestinian residents, and occupy the territory. This was the original intention all along. Strategic failures This has resulted in two strategic failures for Israel. Firstly, it has failed to compel Egypt and Jordan to participate in this scheme and accept Palestinian refugees. Israel's second failure is moral. The government and Israeli society itself have normalised a narrative of genocide and ethnic cleansing, defending this stance with euphemisms like 'voluntary migration' and 'encouraging relocation'. Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war Now, with the intensification of international criticism, cracks have begun to appear in the Israeli consensus. The insistence of thousands of activists and media figures worldwide - Palestinian and non-Palestinian alike - to continue speaking out on Gaza has generated sufficient pressure to make an impact. This initially affected Israeli tourists, who discovered that most people around the world view genocide as an unforgivable atrocity, prompting Israel's foreign ministry to remind Israelis to suppress national symbols abroad, fuelling a silent boycott of Israeli academics and cultural figures. The West will scavenge for Israeli movements and leaders who speak out against the war, without offering a genuine moral alternative We are now seeing a shift in the tone of western foreign policies - late, but significant. The US administration's decision to hold direct negotiations with Hamas to secure the release of dual citizen Edan Alexander reinforced the feeling among Israelis that their government is not genuinely interested in advancing a hostage deal. Conversely, the US has grown weary of Israel, as evidenced by President Donald Trump's Middle East tour skipping over Israel. The shift in Israel's global standing was further evidenced by a recent Financial Times editorial titled 'The West's shameful silence on Gaza', as European threats to suspend trade agreements have begun to bite. French President Emmanual Macron has shifted his tone toward overt criticism, saying this week that European nations must 'harden the collective position' against Israel over Gaza's worsening humanitarian crisis. Even Germany's new chancellor said Berlin would not export weapons used to break humanitarian law, in a break from 19 months of loyal support for Israel's war. Within Israel itself, one of the most striking signs of fracture came in a recent statement from Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party, who declared: 'A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations.' Golan, a former deputy military chief of staff, was disciplined two decades ago for employing the banned 'neighbour procedure' in field operations, a method in which civilians are used to persuade their neighbours to surrender to the army. The path forward This context suggests that Golan is no ethical pacifist. Rather, like many former Israeli generals, he realises that Israel is on its way to becoming a pariah state, incapable of surviving in the Middle East without western support. Indeed, many Israelis who were once fervent supporters of the war now frame the Gaza genocide as a political gambit for Netanyahu's survival. Yet this was a war many in Israeli society wanted and supported, including Golan himself. Today, public discourse in Israel oscillates between those who wish to continue the genocide, and those who are worried about the repercussions. This fracture is a byproduct of Israel's failure to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and the fact that it will have to face armed resistance for many years to come. Why the wall of silence on the Gaza genocide is finally starting to crack Read More » Amid this backdrop, Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners speak of returning settlements to Gaza, a move that would place Israel squarely on the blacklist of pariah states. Sadly, neither Golan nor others in Israel's political and civil spheres - not even those who oppose the war - are prepared to admit that the state has carried out a genocide. But still, the public backlash against Golan's remarks took its toll: days later, in a televised interview, he declared that Israel 'has not committed war crimes in Gaza'. During a visit to the southern city of Beersheba on Tuesday, angry Zionist crowds heckled and booed Golan, who - despite retracting his earlier statements - is now being portrayed around the world as a supposed alternative to Netanyahu, even though he offers no real alternative. Regrettably, this is likely to be the future: the West will scavenge for Israeli movements and leaders who speak out against the war, without offering a genuine moral alternative. Similar to the periods after the First and Second Intifadas, millions of dollars will flow into Israel's 'peace industry', which will talk about Arabs and Jews living together, without confronting the essential political questions that brought us to this reality. In the meantime, we must support every statement and initiative that contributes to ending the war - because what matters now is Gaza, and not only the children of Gaza, but also the youths, the women, the men and the elderly. To prevent further disaster, we must demand more from Israelis, including a real acknowledgment of their actions over the past 600 days. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Middle East Eye
5 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Spain condemns Israel's new West Bank settlements as illegal
Spain has strongly criticised Israel's approval of 22 new West Bank settlements, calling the move a violation of international law. In a Friday statement, the Foreign Ministry warned: "The settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, undermine the viability of the two-state solution, and are a threat to peace." Madrid said the expansion jeopardises regional peace prospects. Spanish officials also expressed their "deepest dismay" over escalating Israeli military operations near Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps. The government condemned home demolitions, settler violence and mass displacements as violations of international humanitarian law.
