The Cradle, September 26, 2022 — Over the past year Washington has plundered hundreds of fuel tankers out of Syria to their bases in Iraq.
US occupation forces on 25 September smuggled 79 tankers loaded with Syrian oil from the fields of Jazira region to Iraq, according to SANA.
Washington’s forces, which have taken control of essential oil and gas fields in Hasakah and Deir Ezzor governorates with the help of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), regularly smuggle fuel and grain out of Syria.
The state-run outlet said the looted oil was moved through the illegal Al-Mahmoudiya border crossing into Iraq, where US forces are also stationed.
Damascus considers the oil theft campaign part of the lager violations by the US of international law, as the plundering of the nation’s natural resources worsens an already dire hunger crisis.
Last week, the US military smuggled a convoy of 60 oil tankers filled with crude oil from Syria’s occupied regions to military bases in Iraq.
In the meantime, the economy in the war-torn country is in a state of disaster, as the bloody conflict has destroyed decades of progress, leaving what once was the Arab’s world most industrialized nation with severe shortages of food and energy.
In collaboration with the SDF, the US army is taking advantage of the devastation in the country to steal its resources while at the same time imposing strict sanctions that prevent Damascus from securing much-needed resources from abroad.
According to the Syrian ministry of oil and mineral resources, the US looted an average of 66,000 barrels of oil every day in the first half of 2022, or over 83 percent of the country’s daily output.
In contrast, domestic oil refineries receive nearly 14,200 barrels a day.
In a statement, the Syrian foreign ministry revealed that the unlawful trafficking of Syrian oil by the US caused direct and indirect losses of about 107.1 billion US dollars to Syria’s oil and gas sectors.
The US maintains around 900 troops in Syria, primarily split between the Al-Tanf base and the country’s eastern oil fields.