Oil is not the motive for the US in Syria. This is the motive the DoD and Lindsey Graham sold Trump to remain in Syria. But it makes no sense under examination.

Syria’s oil reserved are small. It’s production capacity is barely a few thousand of barrels per day and it doesn’t even cover all of Syria’s domestic needs. Because of the war, it may only produce 25k barrels a day — an almost meaningless amount.

The US remains in Syria to counter ISIS, posture against Iran (and Assad), balance Russia, and now fend off aspects of Turkey.

More than that, Syria is a graveyard of simplistic narratives like “blood for oil.” Don’t just swallow narratives because they’re easy.