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Syria’s Energy Sector
With the death toll mounting, pro-democracy protests growing, and the regime of Bashar al-Assad responding with ever-increasing brutality, the United States and its allies are urgently seeking new ways to sanction and pressure the Syrian regime.
While Syria is a small player in international energy markets, selling only 148,000 barrels of crude oil per day, its oil revenue is critical to the regime. Oil enables Damascus to pay its loyalist security forces, purchase military hardware such as tanks, and acquire technology to suppress mass internal dissent.