YPG/PKK terror group exploits oil to finance activities in Syria

By Muhammad Tosun

ANKARA (AA) - The PKK/YPG terrorist organization exploits the oil in the areas it occupies east of the Euphrates River in Syria as a funding source.

Turkish intelligence sources told Anadolu that "there are many companies active in exploration and production linked to the Jazeera Oil Company affiliated to the PKK/YPG terrorist group."

PKK militants, who were previously active in Iraq, supervise the oil trade in Syria.

Shahoz Hassan, the former co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), manages the Jazeera Oil Company as he held talks with companies in several countries for marketing Syrian oil.

In December of last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian regime, in a letter sent to the UN Security Council, accused the US and the terrorist organization of stealing Syrian oil and natural gas.

The YPG/PKK/PYD terror group continues to occupy more than 70% of the oil resources in Syria with the support of the US.

While the terrorist group captured Koniko, the largest gas facility in the northeastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, on Sept. 23, 2017, it also occupied Syria's largest oil field, al-Omar, on Oct. 22, 2017.

The oil refineries in the country are under the control of the regime forces.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report