Syria’s oil heartland poisoned by decades of war, neglect, and inaction

Deir Az Zor, Syria – The first thing that strikes you about the desert of eastern Syria is the vast still landscape: its silence, the unrelenting heat, and dry hot gusts of wind. The journey to Deir Az Zor feels like travelling back in time, with few markers of modernity evident as you look out from the road.

But then a vast, shimmering body of sludge emerges, a black scar through the beige desert. The smell is a thick, chemical tang of petroleum that coats the back of your throat. It looks almost beautiful, until you remember – it is a river of death.

We reached the al-Taim oilfield in Deir Az Zor province to see one of the few oil facilities in Syria controlled by the government in Damascus.

After years of war, some damage to the oilfield was to be expected, but not this – a toxic