DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syria, now largely controlled by the takfiri group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led by Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, has exported heavy oil from the western port of Tartus for the first time in 14 years, Syrian officials said.
The HTS ministry of energy said 600,000 barrels of heavy oil were shipped aboard the tanker Nessus Christiana destined for BeServ Energy, marking a relief  in years of inhuman Western sanctions.
HTS, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra and led by Jolani—a former commander with ties to Daesh in Iraq and Al-Qaeda—rose to power following the weakening of the Assad government during a brutal foreign-backed takfiri insurgency. Years of crippling U.S. and European sanctions severely restricted Syria’s economy and oil production, contributing to the collapse of state control in large parts of the country.
Before the conflict, Syria produced around 390,000 barrels of oil per day, accounting for roughly 20% of its GDP and half of its exports. By 2023, production had dropped to approximately 40,000 barrels daily.
The sanctions imposed by the West aimed to isolate the government of former President Bashar al-Assad but also hampered the country’s infrastructure and economy, enabling extremist factions like HTS to gain territorial control.
In a controversial move, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Jolani, signaling a shift in Western engagement and diplomatic normalization efforts with the group, which many international actors consider a terrorist organization.
Following the U.S. Treasury Department’s recent removal of sanctions on Syria and similar steps by European countries, Syria’s media highlighted the resumption of oil exports as a sign of economic revival under HTS influence.
The port city of Tartus, which hosts Syria’s largest oil refinery and a key export terminal, also recently saw the arrival of a cargo ship carrying 19,000 tonnes of Romanian barley, the first shipment to arrive directly without passing through Turkey or Lebanon.
The move to export oil from HTS-controlled areas signals the group’s growing control over Syria’s economic resources amid ongoing instability and Western efforts to normalize relations with the de facto authorities in parts of Syria.