US military tankers continue to smuggle crude oil from Syria’s Hasakah to northern Iraq: Local sources

A convoy of 33 tankers, laden with oil from the energy-rich Jazira and Sharqia regions, left Syria through the illegal Mahmoudiya border crossing on Monday, and headed towards Iraqi territories, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported citing local sources.

Back on April 22, SANA reported that American occupation forces had used 33 tankers to plunder the natural resources of the Arab country through the Mahmoudiya crossing.

Another 40 US military tankers, loaded with Syrian crude oil, rumbled through the al-Waleed border crossing of al-Ya’rubiyah region in a separate convoy, and entered the Iraqi territories on the same day.

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.

Last month, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the US occupation forces’ continued plundering of Syrian oil and national resources, stressing that the banditry is in blatant violation of international law and humanitarian principles.

The ministry, in a statement issued on April 22, highlighted that the US military had continued with its looting of Syrian oil and other natural resources over the past weeks, smuggling them onward through northern Iraq to Turkey.

The ministry pointed out that such acts will further aggravate the suffering of the Syrian nation, and will prolong Syria’s economic crisis.