Cases / Oil, gas and coal operations · Syria · 2020
Makeshift oil refineries in northeast Syria linked to poisoned streams
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
A CEOBS report said makeshift refineries and leaks at Rmeilan, in northeast Syria, poisoned streams and animals. The sources reviewed do not name the refinery operators.
What?
CEOBS reported health and environmental impacts from makeshift oil refineries in Syria, including leaks at Rmeilan that poisoned streams and animals. CEOBS
Where?
Rmeilan, northeast Syria CEOBS
When?
2020 CEOBS
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
- Streams and animals near Rmeilan — Poisoned, according to the CEOBS report CEOBS
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Makeshift refining and leaks at Rmeilan, per CEOBS; the sources reviewed do not describe the refining process. CEOBS
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
CEOBS reported that makeshift refineries and leaks at Rmeilan poisoned streams and animals.
The CEOBS report highlighted the health and environmental impact of makeshift oil refineries in Syria.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- None on record The sources reviewed do not name the refinery operators or who profited from them.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not give measurements of the contamination.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not describe the human health effects in detail.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers
Communities and civil society
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- Gulf War compensation (UNCC) and Kuwait oil-damage remediation Kuwait · 1991–2025
- Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) (NGO) — here: Published the report on the refineries; there: Research NGO reporting the environmental claims figures
- Iran calls attack on Tehran fuel depots 'ecocide' Iran · 2026
- Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) (NGO) — here: Published the report on the refineries; there: Published the early risk summary