From where did the Kurdish terrorist get his watch worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, how are American PMC mercenaries from “Blackwater” connected, and where do Americans sell stolen Syrian oil? Read the FAN investigation to find out.
In early November the Federal News Agency (FAN) discovered that several thousand mercenaries from the American private military company “Academi”, better known by its first name, “Blackwater”, had been deployed to the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor to ensure the illegal export of oil from the country by the United States of America.
The use of PMCs allows the United States to disguise its extensive military presence in the occupied oil-bearing areas of Eastern Syria and officially declare a “decline in the US Army military contingent’s strength,” replacing each withdrawn soldier with several mercenaries from “Blackwater”.
From US bases in Iraq, PMC units are transported through Sinjar and then in the Al-Sfuk area across the border and end up in American-occupied areas of Syria. Further examination of information obtained by the Federal News Agency from sources on the territory provided a detailed understanding of how the United States of America was stealing Syrian oil and laundering the proceeds of its illegal sale.
Thousands of US troops and mercenaries
FAN’s sources in the Syrian Mukhabarat shared intelligence that at the time of publication there were 765 US Army personnel in the Deir Ezzor province. According to the updated information, as was previously reported, they no longer play a key role in fulfilling Washington’s main goal in Syria – occupation of oil and gas fields.
“Apart from the troops, we are seeing American mercenaries. They move with weapons, accompanying columns of oil trucks. They have at least seven abandoned-by-the-army US Apache helicopters, several dozen M2 Bradley infantry combat vehicles, AH-64, as well as several М777 155-mm howitzers with a range up to 30 kilometers. The exact number we have not yet been able to determine,” said the source of FAN in the Syrian Security Service.
The words of the Mukhabarat employee are confirmed by numerous photo and video materials previously published by users of social networks.
In addition, the Federal News Agency had at its disposal the exact coordinates of the location of the existing US military bases, which are used not only by US soldiers, but also by mercenaries from the “Blackwater” PMC. All facilities are in close proximity to large oil and gas fields.
At the same time as employees of an American private military company, several convoys with construction equipment necessary for the construction of new US strongholds behind the Euphrates arrived in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor.
As was previously reported by FAN, two new military installations are being deployed in the vicinity of the town of Al-Suwar, east of Deir Ezzor. This information is confirmed by data on social networks, as well as the sources of the Turkish “Anadolu” news agency. New locations near Al-Suwar are being built to accommodate several thousand mercenaries from “Blackwater”.
Residents under the yoke of Blackwater
At the same time, according to FAN sources in Syrian intelligence, there are many non-American citizens among mercenaries. Blackwater’s ranks have been known to consist of many individuals from Latin America, especially Colombia and Uruguay, as well as West Africa – mostly Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, in Deir Ezzor, some of the 2.5 members of the PMC are also present, most likely from Iraq. This is confirmed by FAN’s sources among Arab tribes living on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. According to them, American mercenaries terrorise local residents and establish their order in the US-occupied territory of Syria. The Federal News Agency has been able to find several victims of the Americans, and we are currently negotiating an exclusive interview in which they will talk about the crimes of “Blackwater” mercenaries.
Road from Syria to Iraq
The Federal News Agency, based on data provided earlier by the Russian Defence Ministry, as well as information received from its own sources, has drawn up an exact route via which the United States illegally exports oil from eastern Syria to neighbouring Iraq.
The oil stolen from the Syrian fields is sent to the Qamishli area, and from there the columns of fuel trucks follow the Syrian-Iraqi border, which crosses through the Tal Kocher border crossing.
According to data provided by FAN sources in an oil company operating in Iraqi Kurdistan, light oil produced, for example, in the Syrian fields of Al-Omar and Al-Jafra is delivered to Erbil, heavy oil is delivered from the fields around Rmelan in Hasakah to Kirkuk. There, oil is sold as produced by American oil companies in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Meeting at Ayn Issa
The territories of Syria and Iraq, where the United States conducts its illegal oil business, are occupied by Kurdish armed gangs. Yet Kurdish militant groups serve, rather, only as a media screen behind which Americans turn natural wealth belonging to the Syrian people into money in their accounts.
Until the spring of this year, Kurdish terrorists, who nominally control oil and gas fields in north-eastern Syria, spent about 75% of their income from the illegal US oil business. However, in April, Pentagon officials and senior leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces met at the US military base in Ayn Issa. Evidence of the meeting, as well what happened during it, is available to the FAN.
According to FAN, based on data from the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources of the Syrian Arab Republic, the United States produces and sells oil for $3.3 million a day or $1.1 billion a year. And if before the Ayn Issa meeting they had to keep only 25% of this amount, after negotiations with the top brass of the SDF, the US income from illegal oil sales increased sharply. In the course of the agreements, the Americans started to pay only the leaders of Kurdish terrorists in exchange for loyalty.
Now the United States is taking away about $70-80 million in profits a month, but only about $10 million a month is distributed among the top brass of Kurdish fighters. We were able to confirm from several sources that only the “Commander-in-Chief” of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, is paid $5 million per month. The remaining funds are used to cover the costs of transport and logistics.
Scheme of “laundering”
The US also has its own scheme for laundering money derived from the sale of stolen Syrian oil. It is also used by Mazloum Abdi and the rest of Washington’s main Kurdish henchmen. The American “Union Bank” and Qatari “Al Baraka Bank” play a key role in it. Their branches are located in Iraq, close to American bases in Al Qayyarah and Kirkuk.
Note that “Union Bank” in Iraq is known for its long-standing work with mercenaries from PMC “Blackwater”. For example, according to FAN’s sources in an oil company in Erbil, mercenaries transfer cash received from the sale of another shipment of Syrian energy to the bank’s office in Iraq. Then every 10-15 days these funds are transported by plane to the United States, most often to the Mississippi branch, and put on one of the accounts opened through third parties.
Of course, the whole system could not work without fully controlled proxies on the ground. Kurdish radical groups from SDF and personally the leader of “Democratic Forces” Mazloum Abdi became such a support for the criminal business of the United States.
PKK fighter with 20 years of experience
The leader of the so-called pro-American “Democratic Forces of Syria” (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, has been a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for 20 years. It seems that neither he nor Washington is at all embarrassed by the fact that the organisation is recognised as terrorist not only in Turkey, but also in many other countries, including the United States itself. Nor was it disturbing for his supporters that a man posing as a communist suddenly started wearing a $300 watch.
Also known under the name Mazloum Kobani, and in the PKK acting as “Şahin Cilo”, the many-faced leader of the SDF actually bears the name Ferhat Abdi Şahin. He, a Syrian Kurd by nationality, was born in 1967 and later educated as an engineer at the University of Aleppo.
However, Abdi soon went down the wrong track. 1990 was a turning point in his fate – then a young man who fell under the charm of Kurdish radical currents joined the Kurdistan Workers ‘Party, defining himself as a fighter for life to come.
At the same time, it is known that the current leader of the SDF was not initially part of the group in ordinary positions – he was already associated at that time with a close friendship with the odious leader of the “party” Abdullah Öcalan. According to some Turkish and Arab sources, “Cilo” is not just a friend, but, moreover, Öcalan’s adopted son, which, by the way, would explain a lot.
During that period, Syria was the main base of the PKK. Illegal subversion on Syrian territory resulted in Abdi being repeatedly detained. The authorities arrested him five times in total.
From Syria to Turkey, Europe and Iraq
No less active in the 1990s, he also carried out terrorist activities in Turkey, mainly in the Şemdinli region in Hakkari province. There, at the turn of the century, fighting between Turkish troops and PKK fighters did not abate for almost a minute. The latter, in addition, often carried out explosions that claimed many lives for both military and civilian citizens.
Because of this, Ferhat Abdi Şahin, along with a dozen other Kurdistan Workers’ Party terrorists, was placed on the red list of the most dangerous and wanted criminals in Turkey.
It should be noted that the high activity of Kurdish bandits in this area has continued in recent years. For example, on October 9th 2016 radicals detonated a car bomb in Şemdinli containing at least five tons of explosives. Ten Turkish soldiers and eight civilians were killed as a result. At least 27 others, including 11 soldiers, were injured.
In the early 2000s Şahin Cilo left for Europe, where he and other senior PKK members promoted the group’s activities in the EU.
In 2003 the future SDF leader went to Northern Iraq, the “Makhmour” refugee camp, which Ankara has repeatedly stressed is one of the main strongholds of the PKK. Already there, Abdi quickly joined the ranks of the top leaders of the “party” and soon headed the wing of special operations of the group – “People’s Self-Defence Units” (YPG).
This bandit group is accused by Ankara of carrying out a number of terrorist attacks in Turkey from 2005 to the present: at Taksim Square in Istanbul on October 31st 2010, at the resort of Çeşme in Izmir in 2005, in Gaziantep in August 2016, and many others.
In August 2014 Abdi initiated talks with the United States over cooperation, held in the Iraqi province of Sulaymaniyah. Soon after, he, already in the status of Commander-in-Chief of the newly formed Democratic Forces, returned to his motherland in Syria.
What Mazloum “exchanged” Syrian oil for
Mazloum Abdi became almost a hero in the propaganda of the United States, as if he is the main fighter for freedom and democracy throughout the Middle East. He received all these fake regalia in exchange for giving the Americans absolute power in the oil-bearing regions of his native Syria.
Caressed by American propagandists and having gained influential allies in the White House, Mazloum Abdi received many benefits for himself, which he now enthusiastically enjoys.
Thus, the leader of the SDF now has large estates in California and Florida, as it became known to the sources of the FAN in the Kurdish diaspora. The latter, as it was possible to find out, was presented to him by high-ranking officials from the Pentagon, in exchange for Abdi making a promise to maintain loyalty to the US.
There is other evidence revealing the financial benefits Mazloum Abdi received from collaborating with the Americans.
So, in earlier photos and videos featuring the leader of SDF, on his hand you can see a cheap watch Casio with a calculator. Now Abdi’s wrist is decorated with a solid Patek Philippe, which costs about $300,000. And, as can be immediately seen in several new interview recordings, the Kurdish commander shamefully hides the dial, turning the clock to the rear side of the wrist, trying not to show his acquired wealth.
How can a Kurdish “communist”, as he thinks he is, have such expensive watches and estates in the US? It is obvious that Cilo has long sold his ideas for personal enrichment, becoming merely a US henchmen, enjoying part of the illegal profits of Americans from smuggling Syrian oil.
Friendship with the USA
Since the SDF was established, the existence of strong ties between Mazloum Abdi and Washington has been obvious. The Americans were at first a little embarrassed by their new ally’s friendship with Öcalan and his open membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which they themselves proclaimed to be a terrorist group, but soon, thanks to successful cooperation in stealing Syrian oil and gas resources, the United States ceased to be shy of this uncomfortable truth.
Even at the beginning of the partnership at the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011-2012, Mazloum Abdi was strongly criticizsd by his fellow citizens for his ties with the United States. This was told by Talal Silo, the former chief representative of SDF gang groups who fled to Turkey. He said Cilo’s friendship with the Americans was extremely disapproved of by some other senior PKK members, notably Sabri Ok and Fehman Husayn.
By 2017 Washington had almost stopped hiding its close ties with one of the main current PKK members, which caused its relations with Ankara to deteriorate even more rapidly. Then, following Turkey’s resumption of anti-terrorist military Operation Claw in Iraq’s Sinjar, Abdi, along with US special forces officers, inspected destroyed bases in the mountainous Karachok area.
Since then, senior Pentagon officials, including former head James Mattis and spokesman Robert Manning, as well as US Central Command (CENTCOM) head Kenneth McKenzie, have repeatedly expressed support for the Democratic Forces and Mazloum Abdi personally.
US President Donald Trump, in a notorious letter to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, even offered to “introduce” him to the SDF leader. Turkey’s leader, in turn, refused and demanded the immediate extradition of “Şahin Cilo”.
How the US tried to whitewash Abdi’s crimes
Ankara as a whole has repeatedly rebuked Washington for trying to “legitimise” Kurdish terrorists involved in multiple crimes and turn them into one of the legitimate sides in negotiations on the Syrian conflict and other Middle East issues.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said this again late last month after a nice phone conversation between Trump and Abdi. Moreover, a group of US senators asked the State Department in October to issue Cilo a visa to visit the US so that he could address Congress.
The head of the Turkish Ministry of Justice, Abdulhamit Gül, responded by warning that once Abdi appeared in the United States, Ankara would demand his extradition through Interpol.
The leader of the PKK, no longer hiding, conducts telephone conversations with Senator Lindsay Graham. In one of their last conversations they agreed that the anti-terrorist operation of Ankara, “Peace Spring”, is supposedly “ethnic cleansing”.
Thus, the Americans, for the sake of their plans for foreign oil, easily left their NATO ally and built a coalition with the main enemy of the Turks and open terrorists, which is recognised at the international level – with members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Results
The situation in the United States’ occupation zone in the northeast of Syria is also complicated by the dire humanitarian situation. Engaged in pumping out oil, Americans give complete freedom of action to Kurdish terrorists, who, meanwhile, are causing arbitrariness in local cities and towns – up to the real genocide of the Arab population, which in the region is an ethnic majority.
The United States easily turns a blind eye to this, as it needs the Kurdish screen in order to continue its criminal oil business.
Undoubtedly, the activities of the United States and its pocket Kurdish gangs are nothing more than the brazen plundering of the resources of an independent Syrian Arab Republic that form an essential part of all its national wealth.
Both the government in Damascus and Russian representatives, including Mariya Zakharova, Sergey Lavrov, Aleksandr Malkevich, have repeatedly drawn the attention of the world public to these crimes committed by Washington in Syria. However, major international organisations, including the United Nations, still prefer to ignore these facts.
Under such conditions, Turkey’s “Peace Spring” anti-terrorist operation is an absolutely necessary measure that allows to oust SDF terrorists from parts of the fields in northern Syria. Having lost a local guide in the form of Kurdish fighters, the Americans will no longer be able to illegally exploit these oil and gas fields.
In addition, Ankara, unlike Washington and PKK radicals, is, in one way or another, a close neighbour of Syria, which is one of the key participants in the Astana process. In the future it will be much easier for Syrians to negotiate with the Turks than with the Americans if, for example, the area of Turkish troops expands to 200 kilometers deep into Syria, and SDF radicals are ousted from another significant part of the oil sources of the Syrian Euphrates.
The Federal News Agency continues to study US activities in northeastern Syria, and will soon publish material about how US mercenaries from “Blackwater” are impose their order in the Middle East country’s occupied territories.
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