US Forces Send Tankers of Stolen Syrian Oil to Iraq
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – American forces continue to plunder energy reserves in Syria with dozens of tanker trucks used by the US military to smuggle crude oil from Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah to neighboring Iraq.
Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources in al-Ya'rubiyah town, reported that a convoy of 37 tankers, laden with crude oil, left Syria through the illegal Mahmoudiya border crossing on Monday morning, and headed towards Iraqi territories.
The development comes less than a week after US occupation forces sent 66 tankers laden with stolen Syrian oil from the energy-rich Jazira region in Syria's Hasakah province to their bases in Iraq.
The US military has for long stationed its forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources. Former US president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.
Syria says the US occupation has cost Syria over $107 billion in oil and gas sector losses.
Damascus also complains that the US' thefts of Syrian oil, natural gas and other resources have led to energy shortages and have further deteriorated the economy and people's livelihoods.
According to data released by Syria's Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, in the first half of 2022, US forces stole more than 80 percent of Syria's oil resources every day.
