Syria's civil war is disrupting its energy industry

The country’s civil war has exacted a heavy toll on its energy sector as government and opposition forces fight for control over the country’s most lucrative resource, as Conal Urquhart discovers

It is a common scene in the countryside of northern Syria: fires burning under blackened tanks, charring the ground below, and billows of thick, black smoke rising to the sky.   The tanks are rough oil refineries manned by young boys who have discovered that fractional distillation is a simple, if not safe, process. “We heat it. Then comes out water, then petrol, then paraffin, and then diesel. About two barrels of oil make one barrel of diesel. We make enough money for food, home expenses,” said one of the amateur refiners from  the city of Aleppo in a video uploaded to YouTube earlier this year. Once refined, the fuel passes through