Watad Petroleum is a company that imports petroleum from Turkey to rebel-held areas of northwestern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, where it is based. It was founded in the largely rebel-held

Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة ادلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama ...

in 2017 and is thought to be owned by the Salafi jihadist militant group

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (, transliteration: ', "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" or "Levant Liberation Committee"), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the ...

History

The company was established in 2017, reportedly shortly after the foundation of

(HTS) which is believed to own the company. Watad had sourced petroleum from the

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, M ...

until early 2018, when Turkey launched a military operation which cut trade routes between the Autonomous Administration and HTS. Watad then began dealing with an unnamed Turkish company which sourced petroleum from Ukraine via the

Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing The Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing ( ar, معبر باب الهوى, "Gate of the Winds Crossing") is an international border on the Syria–Turkey border. It connects the Syrian M45 and the Turkish D827 highways, between the cities of İskenderun ...

. In January 2018, the company was granted a monopoly over the importation, processing and pricing of fuel in areas controlled by the

Syrian Salvation Government The Syrian Salvation Government () is a de facto alternative government of the Syrian opposition in Idlib Governorate, formed in early November 2017. There followed weeks of conflict between the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) and the Syrian In ...

. In January 2019, Watad began sending gas cylinders and petroleum to areas held by the Syrian government after fuel shortages were experienced. In November 2019, HTS arrested one of its commanders over a disagreement with Watad. The company demanded that locals selling oil work on behalf of Watad and trade exclusively in Watad products, and threatened to use force if compliance was not met. On 18 July 2020, suicide drones launched from government areas attacked Watad's fuel market in Sarmada. On 31 July, the market was hit by three

Grad rockets The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first comb ...

, causing several fires to break out. In retaliation, opposition and jihadist groups shelled government forces.

References

{{reflist Organizations of the Syrian civil war 2017 establishments in Syria Oil companies of Syria Syria, SSG