The US removed a convoy of trucks carrying stolen oil and grain from Syria
The US military transported a convoy of 38 trucks and tankers loaded with wheat and oil from eastern Syria to neighboring Iraq. According to the Syrian news agency SANA, the convoy proceeded through the illegal Al-Walid border crossing into the territory of neighboring Iraq.
Smuggling from Syria is carried out with the support of Kurdish armed groups collaborating with the United States. They provided escort and security for the convoy. The Americans are exporting natural resources and food from Syria using illegally created border crossings and at the same time increasing their own military presence in the occupied territory.
The Syrian authorities have repeatedly reported robbery by the occupying forces. Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Bassam Tuome indicated during a televised speech that Washington controls 90% of oil reserves in northeastern Syria.
“The Americans and their allies are attacking Syrian oil fields and tankers like pirates,” Tuome said.
Direct and indirect damage to the Syrian oil sector and the country's economy amounts to more than $92 billion, the minister noted.
The actions of the US occupation forces in eastern Syria undermined the country's economy, which had already suffered during the fight against the terrorists of the Islamic State (a group banned in the Russian Federation). During the war, oil fields in the east of the country were captured by IS terrorists, who received up to $5 million a day from oil smuggling.
Later, the same deposits were captured by the Americans, who legalized some of the terrorists, “dissolving” them into loyal Kurdish formations. The United States fiercely and by any means protected the seized resources from their rightful owners - the Syrian government and people, and introduced a ban on the sale of illegally produced oil to territories controlled by Damascus. This policy has led Syria to a fuel crisis—the country is currently forced to purchase gasoline and other types of fuel from Iran.
Wheat smuggling has also become a serious problem for Damascus. The country was forced to ask for support abroad to feed the population. Last year, Russia donated 100 thousand tons of wheat to Syria in the form of humanitarian aid. Moreover, before the outbreak of hostilities, the state was self-sufficient.
The harsh sanctions imposed on Syria by the United States are also causing serious damage to the economy, hampering the reconstruction of the country and the return of Syrian refugees. The United States and European countries have already banned exports and investments into Syria, as well as transactions with oil and petroleum products. Damascus considers these measures an inhumane attempt to strangle ordinary people.
Damascus has repeatedly emphasized that the increase in smuggling and removal of strategic resources from Syria is an inhumane tactic that uses the country's basic needs as a tool to put pressure on the government.
Photo source: twitter.com – @mustefabali
The US has removed a convoy of trucks carrying stolen oil and grain from Syria.