Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
News from The Cradle, July 23, 2022
The US army and its proxy Kurdish militia control the resource-rich northeast region, stealing Syrian oil under the pretext of preventing ISIS from taking control of the vast oil fields
On 23 July, US occupation troops smuggled a new batch of stolen Syrian oil into their military bases in Iraq via the illegal Al-Mahmoudiya border crossing.
According to local sources, a convoy of 35 tanker trucks filled with Syrian oil was escorted out of the resource-rich Jazira region of northern Syria by the US army.
Around the same time, another convoy of 23 vehicles – including tankers and covered trucks loaded with military equipment and logistical materials – crossed the illegal Al-Waleed border crossing.
The US occupation army and their proxy militia in northern Syria – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – control most of the oil fields in Hasakah and Deir Ezzor, but operate under the pretext of protecting Syria’s resources from falling under the control of ISIS.
Over the past year and a half, they have intensified the looting of Syria’s natural resources, smuggling out hundreds of trucks filled with oil and wheat to sell abroad.
The US theft of Syrian resources has exacerbated a severe food crisis in a nation ravaged by 11 years of war and crippling western sanctions.
SDF authorities in the occupied northeast say they do not expect this year’s wheat harvest to meet the needs of their region, let alone allow for supplies to other parts of Syria.
Soaring fertilizer prices as a result of the NATO-instigated war in Ukraine have also left farmers unable to use large portions of their fields.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says 12.4 million Syrians, or close to 70 percent of people in the country today, are food insecure.
Earlier this week, Russia and China called on the US government to stop stealing Syria’s natural resources.
“We have common positions on the Euphrates River regarding the need for US forces to leave this land, and they must stop looting [from] the Syrian people by illegally extracting oil,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on 19 July during a press conference in Tehran.
In the same vein, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on 21 July:
“The US military continues to occupy the main grain and oil producing areas in Syria, looting and plundering Syrian national resources, and worsening the local humanitarian crisis.”
