A makeshift oil refinery in Idlib Province, northwest Syria in 2017


Bellingcat and The Guardian report on the high cost of oil, in pollution, ill health, and environmental damage as well as inflated prices, in opposition-held northwest Syria.

Kaamil Ahmed writes, based on analysis by Wim Zwijnenburg of the Dutch peace advocacy group Pax, of the “black pools, long trenches, and charred earth [that] have become common sights in the fields” as the region tries to sustain itself in the country’s nine-year conflict.

Between 1,500 and 5,000 backyard oil refineries have been established in Idlib and Aleppo Provinces. They use crude oil purchased from Kurdish-controlled fields in eastern Syria, and convert it into fuel for cooking, heating, and transport.

The basic refineries pollute the air, spread toxic fumes, and contaminate water supplies. There is a risk of barrels exploding.

Displaced Syrians, including children and teenagers, are used as cheap labor.

Zwinenburg explains, “Some of these locations are operational for a year, so you see issues around respiratory problems, skin diseases and you see long-term concerns about cancer. Burning this fuel day in, day out raises a lot of concerns among locals.”

A displaced civilian, from Aleppo Province, says:

It is a problem, especially for the children. Personally I had problems sometimes because my village is small and some of the villagers were burning oil very close to the homes, only 150 metres away.

In the area of the burners, there is a lot of pollution because of the smell from the smoke, which reached into my house. My son was very small and he developed breathing problems.

Despite a historic low in global oil prices, the cost in northwest Syria is more than $100 per barrel.

The refineries have continued to operate during a Russian-regime offensive that seized much of the opposition area between April 2019 and March 2020. About 2,000 civilians were killed, thousands wounded, and more than 1 million displaced.

The former Aleppo resident says that, unless fuel is provided and prices fall, the dangerous and damaging refineries will be a permanent feature: “People don’t have a choice, they are forced by this matter. If only there was some help to providing an alternative, people would take another route.”