Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda main branch in Syria in a statement issued Tuesday confirmed capturing Syria's largest oilfield four days ago, cutting off President Bashar al-Assad's access to almost all local crude reserves, activists said.
The loss of the al-Omar oil field in the eastern Deir Ezzor province, could leave Assad's forces almost completely reliant on imported oil in their highly mechanised military campaign to put down a 32-month long uprising, Al Jazeera reported.
"Now, nearly all of Syria's usable oil reserves are in the hands of the Nusra Front and other Islamist units ... The regime's neck is now in Nusra's hands," Rami Abdelrahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Saturday.
A video posted on the internet by activists in Deir Ezzor showed rebels driving a tank under a sign that read "Euphrates Oil Company - al-Omar field". The speaker in the video said the field was overrun at dawn on Saturday.
Rebels have gained momentum against Assad's forces and its backed Shia militias this week in contrary to the recent months which was in Assad's side.
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