Stealing oil, stealing food and launching air strikes. Recently, American banditry in Syria has become increasingly rampant, and the frequency is staggering.
According to comprehensive Syrian media reports, on August 21, the United States illegally stationed troops in Syria and dispatched 137 tankers to transport the oil stolen from the northeast of Syria to the US military base in Iraq in two batches.
On August 16, the US military sent 65 tanker fleets to transport stolen oil;
On the 15th, the US military sent 100 tanker convoys to transport stolen oil.
On August 11th, the US military sent 144 tankers to smuggle oil.
In early August, there were two more times …
On the 22nd, the Syrian army checkpoint intercepted an American motorcade that tried to break in. Source: Syrian National News Agency
The governor of Chang ‘an Street noticed that not only oil was stolen and transported, but also the US military stole and poisoned food in Syria.
In May, 2020, when an American Apache helicopter was flying near the ground, it dropped several burning balloons and completely burned 20,000 hectares of wheat fields in Shadadi village, Hasakeh province, Syria.
In 2021, USAID sent 3,000 tons of wheat seeds to Syria, but after the experimental analysis conducted by the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reform, 40% of them contained nematodes and could not be planted.
On June 18, 2022, the illegal American garrison in Syria used 40 trucks loaded with looted Syrian wheat and transported them to Iraq.
At the same time, the US military is still launching air strikes in Syria.
On the 23rd, local time, the statement of the US Central Command stated that under the instruction of President Biden, the US military conducted an accurate air strike on the infrastructure used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria.
U.s navy F/A-18E super hornet data map. Source: vision china
What has become of Syria?
Before the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, tourism, oil industry and agriculture were the three major economic pillars.
Syria’s oil industry can produce about 400,000 barrels of oil every day, and it can bring 73 million US dollars of income to the country every month. It is the main source of Syria’s finance.
Everything has changed since the war started. Syria’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources issued a statement on the 8th, saying that in the first half of this year, Syria’s oil output was about 14.5 million barrels, of which more than 83% was plundered by "US troops and their mercenaries".
According to Sputnik news agency & radio’s statistics, as of February 2022, the total economic loss of Syrian oil industry reached $100.5 billion.
On the highway where the US military convoy transported the stolen Syrian oil to Iraq, a line of tanker trucks could not be seen at all.
On the streets of Damascus, residents are still queuing in front of gas stations. Almost every city in Syria has an energy crisis, and vehicles waiting for refueling are also endless.
Syria’s "oil shortage" continues, and drivers are waiting in long queues to refuel. Source: vision china
As a big grain country, according to the estimation of FAO, Syria only produced about 2.4 million tons of grain in 2020, most of which is not controlled by the Syrian government.
According to United Nations data, US military intervention has caused at least 350,000 people to lose their lives in Syria, more than 12 million people have been displaced, and 14 million civilians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
At present, 90% of Syria’s population lives below the poverty line, two-thirds rely on humanitarian assistance to make a living, and more than half of the population cannot get food security.
Up to now, the US military still occupies Syria’s main grain-producing and oil-producing areas, and plunders Syria’s national resources, making the local humanitarian crisis worse.
Why does the United States linger?
First, "like".
"I like oil, we want to protect oil, and the US military (in Syria) stays for this." This is Trump’s "famous saying".
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ridiculed this, "He is really outspoken. This is at least the reality of American politics since World War II.
After World War II, the economic motive of the United States to launch foreign wars repeatedly is to plunder strategic resources such as oil. In April this year, US Vice President Harris said frankly: "In the past many years, generations of Americans have been fighting for oil."
Mi Erzha, a senior Iraqi Kurdish intelligence official, commented in an interview with Newsweek that "everything the United States does is related to oil, and oil is thicker than innocent blood".
Trump data map. Source: vision china
The US Foreign Policy stated that Trump has been opposed to the US military presence in the Middle East for many years, except for "protecting oil". He has repeatedly said that the United States should "take away" Iraqi oil.
Former US Navy intelligence and counter-terrorism expert Nancy told Newsweek that the US military "has been stuck in two small barren areas in the northeast and south of Syria, just because they are the only two oil fields worth mentioning in Syria".
In order to "protect oil", the US military did not hesitate to shoot 14-year-old Syrian civilians near the oil field. The then US Secretary of Defense Esper responded lightly: "If you like, you can also call this incident a small conflict."
They rob, steal and occupy "aboveboard", which is the "rules-based international order" of the United States.
Second, smuggling makes money.
It is a tradition of the United States to make a fortune in the war.
Bassam Tome, Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources of Syria, previously criticized that the United States and its allies stole Syrian oil and food "like pirates" and seriously damaged the Syrian economy.
But as early as 2018, Syria was accusing the United States of stealing oil. At that time, Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Jaafari submitted a memorandum to the Security Council, accusing the US military presence in Syria of stealing oil.
He also pointed out that the US military authorized and protected Delta Crescent Energy Company to exploit and transport energy in northeast Syria. Syrian Kurdish armed forces also "run errands" among them. Our clients include armed groups in Syria and Turkey and foreign companies.
When asked about this matter, the US Treasury did not deny the existence of the company, although it was unwilling to give a direct answer.
In February 2022, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency pointed out that about one-third of the stolen oil in Hasakeh, Raqqa and dayr az zawr was being sold to Iraqi Kurdish armed groups through the intermediary of Americans, and the United States earned at least $30 million a month.
Sputnik news agency & radio quoted Kostiukov, director of the General Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, as saying that with the participation of American companies, 190,000 barrels of about 220,000 barrels of oil are produced on the east bank of the Euphrates River every day and sold to other countries, and the remaining 30,000 barrels are supplied at high prices to meet Syrian demand. The illegal income of about $400 million a year is used to fund the Euphrates River autonomy plan in the United States.
Third, maintain unrest.
Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, the United States has not only clung to Syria, but also supported several anti-government forces and imposed economic sanctions on Syria together with Europe.
The Syrian government has always stressed that the presence of US troops in Syria has never been authorized by the UN Security Council, and this illegal garrison is no different from theft.
"For the long term", the United States also left oil fields in the northeast of Syria for the Kurdish armed forces in Syria, so as to enhance their economic resources to continue to compete with the Bashar government.
At the same time, the United States has damaged and weakened Syria’s national strength by stealing oil in large quantities. Bassam Tome said last year that 90% of Syria’s domestic oil resources are controlled by the United States and its NATO allies. "They are aiming at our oil, preventing us from developing it ourselves and preventing basic daily necessities and goods from being transported here."
Next, in order to curb and cut off the energy transfusion and economic exchanges between Iran and Russia to the Bashar government, the United States may intensify its efforts to increase the scale of smuggling.
The Governor of Chang ‘an Avenue noted that the situation in the Middle East is already undergoing subtle changes.
On July 19th, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Erdogan and Iranian President Leahy held a trilateral high-level meeting in Tehran, unanimously calling on the US military to "immediately withdraw from Syria".
In the joint statement, the three parties stressed that there is no military solution to the Syrian civil war and it needs to be led by the Syrian people. The three countries oppose the illegal seizure and transfer of oil revenues that should belong to Syria.
Putin (left), Leahy (middle) and Erdogan (right). Source: RT
The photo of the three people once made German Foreign Minister Berber "incomprehensible". She said that Erdogan’s appearance in this photo was a "challenge" to NATO. Some German netizens sarcastically said on social media: "The restoration of peace in Syria does violate NATO values."
At the press conference after the summit, Putin specifically pointed out that the US military must leave the territory east of the Euphrates River and "stop robbing the Syrian state and people and stop illegally exporting oil".
As the angry Syrian people said, the United States came for the benefit and left without the benefit. Their existence in Syria itself is the embodiment of terrorism.
On July 20th, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin answered a question from the Governor of Chang ‘an Avenue at a regular press conference, saying that the United States has always advocated the highest standards in human rights and the legal system, but what the United States has done in Syria shows that the United States has failed in defending human rights and the rule of law.
Wang Wenbin stressed that the United States should respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respond to the voice of the Syrian people, immediately lift the unilateral sanctions against Syria, immediately stop plundering Syrian national resources, and make up for the harm caused to the Syrian people with practical actions.
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