Oil is what brings money into a bank,” Abu Aicha tells Middle East Eye on 23 January. A former head of banking security in Deir Ezzor, Abu Aicha has been urgently reassigned to secure al-Omar, Syria’s largest oilfield – recently reclaimed by Syrian government forces after nearly a decade under Kurdish-led control. Today, it is once again under state control – a battlefield where oil has repeatedly reshaped Syria’s balance of power. Deir Ezzor suffered economically from losing access to its own resources.”Another soldier, Mohamed Othman, 25, from Shahee in Deir Ezzor, sums up the moment: “It’s as if we were born again. “It is Syria’s largest oilfield, with recoverable reserves estimated at around 520 million barrels,” Fève says.