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Turkey Slams US Oil Firm Deal with SDF

FILE PHOTO: Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand together in the village of Baghouz, Deir Ezzor province, Syria March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Rodi Said
FILE PHOTO: Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand together in the village of Baghouz, Deir Ezzor province, Syria March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Rodi Said
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Turkey Slams US Oil Firm Deal with SDF

FILE PHOTO: Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand together in the village of Baghouz, Deir Ezzor province, Syria March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Rodi Said
FILE PHOTO: Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand together in the village of Baghouz, Deir Ezzor province, Syria March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Rodi Said

Turkey on Monday blasted an agreement between Kurdish-led forces in Syria's northeast and a US oil company as "unacceptable" and equivalent to terrorism financing.

Senior Washington officials have confirmed that a US oil company has signed an agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to "modernize" oil fields under its control.

Syria’s foreign ministry condemned on Sunday the deal as "theft" and an "affront to (its) national sovereignty.”

The US-backed SDF is mostly made up of Syrian Kurdish forces which Turkey considers to be a "terror group" linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Asharq Al-Awsat learned Saturday that SDF commander Mazloum Abdi confirmed to US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that the deal was made by Delta Crescent Energy LLC.

"We regret the US support for this step that ignores international law and that targets Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

It considered the deal to be "the financing of terrorism" and "unacceptable."

The foreign ministry accused the SDF of advancing "its separatist agenda by confiscating, with this step, Syrian people's natural resources."

"Syria's natural resources belong to Syrian people," it added.

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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.