Damascus blasts US strikes on Dayr al-Zawr as cover-up to steal more oil in eastern Syria

Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates made the remarks in a statement on Saturday, after the US conducted airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, blaming Damascus for a drone attack that purportedly killed an American contractor, wounded another, and also hurt five US troops.

The statement denounced the brutal attack launched by the US forces against some areas in Dayr al-Zawr province, which claimed the lives of a number of people, left several others injured, and caused property damage in the targeted regions.

“The US allegations about the targeted sites are nothing but a failed attempt aimed at justifying the act of aggression, which constitutes a blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity,” it added.

The Syrian foreign ministry also said that such hostile US acts are in line with the attacks that the Israeli regime and the Daesh Takfiri terrorists have launched against local residents, and serve as a cover-up for the continued looting of Syrian oil by US occupation forces

“Syria repeats its demand for an immediate end to the presence of American occupation troops, increased authority of the Damascus government over all districts in the country, and cessation of Washington’s support and sponsorship of separatist and terrorist groups,” the statement also read.

It also urged the international community to condemn the latest Israeli air strikes, stand with the conflict-stricken Arab country, and help it preserve its territorial integrity and national unity.

The Pentagon said in a statement that the attack against US personnel took place at a base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time (1038 GMT) on Thursday.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said the strikes in Syria against the positions of resistance fighters were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden and targeted facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

However, local sources pointed out that the target was not an Iran-aligned military post as the US military claimed, but rather a rural development center and a grain center in Hrabash neighborhood, near Dayr al-Zawr military airport. No Iranian was killed in the act of aggression.

A military source in Syria told Press TV that the resistance groups reserve their right to respond to the American attack and will take reciprocal action.

On Friday, after the Pentagon carried out multiple airstrikes against Syrian troops, a military base housing US forces in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr came under a rocket attack.

local sources reported that ‏the rockets landed in the vicinity of the US-controlled al-Omar oil field at around 11 a.m. local time (0800 GMT), causing several explosions.

On Saturday, Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam television news network reported that more than 20 rockets had been fired against two illegal bases belonging to American occupation forces in eastern Syria.

The news channel specified the targets as American outposts based near the al-Omar oilfield and the Koniko natural gas field in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr province.

US lawmakers call for American troop pullout from Syria

A number of Republican legislators in the House of Representatives and the Senate have called on the Biden administration to withdraw all US troops from Syria in the wake of attacks against them in the Arab country.

“Warmongers in both parties say keeping troops in Syria is necessary to preserve the balance of power. That is simply not true. If they believe that, they should say it directly to the parents of Americans in Syria who have to sleep there tonight and guard oil fields … We need to bring our troops home,” Congressman Matt Gaetz tweeted on Friday.

He added that it is very sad that we continue to see Americans get killed and soldiers injured in Syria, noting this is the price of protecting oil fields in other countries, which will probably continue forever.

Congressman Ben Cline, echoing Gaetz’s remarks, wrote on his Twitter account on Friday that this week’s development was exactly why he voted “to remove US armed forces from Syria and bring our troops home.”

Rand Paul, a senator from Kentucky, also considered the latest rocket attacks against American occupation troops as a reason for the need to withdraw the forces from Syria.

“Bring our troops home from Syria and end every unauthorized war going on today,” he tweeted on Saturday.

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 the Daesh terrorists.

Damascus has said the US 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.