The US push to claim Syrian oil fields is "banditry," the Russian Defense Ministry has said. A US military convoy was heading towards oil fields at Syria's Deir el-Zour, where Washington already maintains a small force.
The condemnation came amid reports that a US military convoy of a dozen vehicles was moving south towards the site.
An unnamed US military official confirmed to AFP news agency that the Pentagon began reinforcing its presence in Deir el-Zour, which boasts rich oil fields
"This, what Washington is doing now — capturing and maintaining control through the use of arms over oil fields in eastern Syria — that is, to put it simply, international, state-sponsored banditry," said Russian General Igor Konashenkov.
The tension comes as Kurdish-led forces were forced to retreat from parts of the northeast border, as laid out by a cease-fire deal struck bilaterally between Russia and Turkey.
Turkey launched its offensive two weeks ago after US President Donald Trump abruptly ordered all US troops in northeastern Syria to leave. Trump's move paved the way for Turkey to launch a cross-border operation against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Under pressure from the US and Russia, Ankara agreed to a temporary cease-fire to allow Kurdish fighters to pull out of the planned buffer zone along the Turkish border.
Danger of 'Islamic State'
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday the Pentagon was considering sending additional troops and armored vehicles further south to Deir el-Zour. The area is currently protected by Kurdish forces, but the US also has some 200 troops at the site. Esper said that sending in reinforcements, which comes after Trump's orders to leave northern Syria, is aimed at preventing the "Islamic State" (IS) group from taking control of the fields.
Russia's Konashenkov said neither international nor US law provided justification for US troops to "defend hydrocarbon deposits of Syria from Syria itself and her people."
"Absolutely all hydrocarbon deposits and other minerals located on the territory of Syria do not belong to the IS terrorists, and even less to the 'American defenders from IS terrorists,' but exclusively to the Syrian Arab Republic," he added.
Russia accuses Pentagon of smuggling oil
Konashenkov also presented satellite recordings provided by the Russian military, which he said showed US troops and mercenaries securing oil smuggling operations in Syria.
The Russian officer said that "under protection by US troops and employees of US private military companies, fuel tankers from oil fields in eastern Syria are smuggled into other countries."
The US did not immediately comment on the allegations.
On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the Syria conflict in a phone call. Lavrov said it was important to refrain from "steps undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Syria, according to a statement from the Russian side.
Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive
Those displaced by the fighting in northeast Syria are trying to survive in abandoned schools and houses. International NGOs have left and people queue for bread for hours. The few remaining doctors are overwhelmed.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
A first stop
UN sources say over 200,000 people have been internally displaced in Syria's northeast since Turkey launched its offensive on October 9. So far, the border town of Ras al-Ayn has paid the highest toll in the wake of a joint attack by Turkish militias and airstrikes. The city will remain under Turkish control following a deal struck in Sochi between Russia and Turkey.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
'We've lost everything'
A majority of those who have fled are reportedly Kurds. Those civilians remaining in the city are mostly Arabs who are still in touch by phone with their former neighbors. "They told me yesterday that the Islamists were looting our house. We've lost everything," this man told DW.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Every crumb helps
The regime forces are stationed just a few kilometers away from Tal Tamr. As a result international NGOs formerly based in the area have fled over the past few days. Internally displaced people (IDPs) from Ras al-Ayn and the neighboring villages rely on the work of local NGOs who are struggling to cope with the crisis.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Not enough to go around
Apart from Tal Tamr, other villages in the vicinity are also hosting hundreds of displaced people who rely on local NGOs. "They're settling in empty villages, many of them too close to other locations controlled by either the Turkish-backed militias or 'Islamic State' sleeper cells," Hassan Bashir, a local NGO coordinator, told DW.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Food, glorious food
This Arab IDP from Ras al-Ayn has four wives but will struggle to get enough to feed all their children as local NGOs say they can only allocate a single food ration per family. "It's not their fault, they're just children," he told DW, after being given a single bag of food rations.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
School's out — forever?
Schools have remained shut across Syria's northeast since the beginning of the offensive and several of them are now hosting IDPs from Ras al-Ayn. Those who can afford it will move to cities like Al-Hasakah, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south, but others will have to cope with the dire conditions in a border city that faces further attacks from the north.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
The closest thing to home
50 Kurdish families from Ras al-Ayn are now living in this abandoned school in Tal Tamr lacking both water and electricity. As the sanitary conditions deteriorate, local doctors and the hospital in Tal Tamr fear an outbreak of cholera and other diseases. "If we continue like this we'll have to get set for a huge humanitarian crisis," a local doctor told DW.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Sick and stranded
Although the hospital in Tal Tamr is treating the wounded, it cannot help those suffering from diseases such as cancer.Two IDPs told DW that they were supposed to receive chemotherapy in Damascus before the offensive started, but that the current security situation makes it impossible for them to get there.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
A different type of playground
The Christian village of Tell Nasri on the outskirts of Tal Tamr had remained empty since IS took over the area. The majority of its former inhabitants left during the IS siege when the militants destroyed the churches with explosives before the fall of the Caliphate. With nowhere else to go, several IDP families from Ras al-Ayn are now settling in Tell Nasri.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Living on a prayer
These boys are among dozens stranded in Tell Nasri but the dire living conditions are the least of their problems. Just before this picture was taken, settlers told DW that they had been attacked from a neighboring village reportedly in the hands of Islamists. "They started shooting at us and we engaged [with them] for over an hour," a fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces told DW.
