U.S. presence in Syria is due to oil and the fight against Daesh, according to the head of the Central Command

The head of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), Kenneth F. McKenzie, has assured that Washington's military deployment in Syria is in response to the protection of oil facilities and the containment of the Daesh in statements collected by the Military Times. General McKenzie has also pointed out that they continue to cooperate with the Kurdish militias on the ground. "I don't know how long we're going to stay in Syria. When the time comes, we will leave, but it is a political decision and we are ready to execute the orders," he said of the U.S. military withdrawal from Syria. 

Syrian President Bachar Al-Asad has warned the U.S. military that they must leave the country. After liberating the northwestern areas of the Arab country from the hands of terrorists, Al-Asad is likely to concentrate his efforts on recovering the areas occupied by Washington and its allies in the east. "We will deal with that when it happens," McKenzie explained without adding any further details. Syrian authorities accuse Washington of helping terrorist groups to destabilize Syria and of trying to take over the country's oil resources. 

The U.S. has strengthened its military presence in Syria in recent months. In early April a military detachment entered northwest Syria with new supplies. The U.S. army entered from Al-Hasaka in Iraq, heading for the district of Al-Malikiyah near the border crossing in northwest Syria and northwest Iraqi Kurdistan. 

The same official Army of the Bachar al-Asad regime proceeded to stop this command, formed by five vehicles, when it was close to a control post in the enclave of Hammo; something that was cheered by the Syrian population that opposes the American presence in their nation. At the beginning of the year, the United States Army installed a new base in the enclave of Deir Ezzor, in the east of Syria, to reinforce its positions within the warlike conflict that has been developing in the country of the Middle East since 2011.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a UK-based organisation with a large network of informants on the ground, reported on this new US strategy. The organization stated on its website that massive US reinforcements have been detected in the town of Al-Jazeera, just west of the oil-rich area of Deir Ezzor. Various experts see precisely the oil issue as the main reason why Donald Trump's government has intensively resumed interest in Syria. 

This move by the United States shows the renewed interest of the Trump Administration in Syria, linked to the attraction of the oil wealth of the area, after it abandoned its positions months ago and agreed with Turkey to create a security zone on the Turkish-Syrian border, from which the Kurdish-Syrian forces harassed by the Ottoman nation were to leave and to which thousands of Syrian refugees living in Turkish territory were to return, according to the intentions of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Thanks to its new maneuver in Syria, the United States is increasing its presence in oil and gas fields in the north of the Arab nation. Through the Al-Walid point, the American giant also contributes weekly war material and logistic to the troops of the mentioned FDS, conformed mainly by Kurds. The United States was present in bases to the north and southeast, in the border triangle with Iraq and Jordan, but later abandoned them after the well-known pact with Turkey, although the march did not take place completely. It is now very present in the hydrocarbon nuclei of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa due to the renewed US interest in crude oil. Some sources estimate that the United States may have between 3,000 and 4,000 troops currently deployed. 

The U.S.-led international coalition to fight the Daesh terrorist group in Syria also deployed a Patriot anti-missile system around the Koniko gas plant in the Deir Ezzor region of northeast Syria in late May, according to information gathered by the Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer correspondent has assured that the coalition militias have been working around the Koniko plant, annexing an area of approximately 1,000 dunams to the field (10 dunams is equivalent to one hectare). This analyst has also specified that in addition to expanding their control area they have installed a wire fence around this area. 

The web portal Deir Ezzor 24 has published several times information related to the arrival of missile batteries to this base; batteries that, according to local media, are deployed today. The deployment of a Patriot anti-missile system has been installed after the United States Army located a new base in the enclave of Deir Ezzor, in the east of Syria, to reinforce its positions within the war conflict that has been developing in the Middle Eastern country since 2011.