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"What Washington does now - the capture and holding under its armed control of oil fields in Eastern Syria is, simply speaking, an international state banditism," he said, adding that Syrian oil reserves and other mineral resources belong solely to the Syrian Arab Republic, not to Daesh terrorists or to "American protectors from Daesh terrorists""Neither international law, nor the American legislation itself can justify the US troops' goal to guard Syrian hydrocarbon reserves from Syria itself and its people," the statement reads.In the Americans' credit, they're not hiding it anymore. Trump said they would 'secure the oil', and they have since threatened to shoot anyone coming near their oil-smuggling operations.
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The oil was smuggled in tanker truck convoys, guarded both by US servicemen and the mercenaries of private military contractors (PMCs), the ministry spokesman said.
"Meanwhile, Washington imposed sanctions on shipping hydrocarbons to Syria, which spans not only US companies, but everyone else," the statement says.
Despite that, oil extraction is being conducted using equipment provided by "leading Amercian corporations", Konashenkov said.
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According to the statement, oil extraction was conducted by a US-controlled company, created under the so-called "Autonomous Administration of East Syria".
The smuggling revenue went through intermediary companies to US intelligence agency and PMC bank accounts, he said.
"Considering one barrel of Syrian oil costs $38, the monthly revenue of this 'private enterprise' of US intelligence agencies is more than $30 million," the statement reads. "For such a constant flow of cash, free of state control and taxes, Pentagon and Langley management will be ready to guard Syrian oil wells from 'hidden Daesh cells' indefinitely."
Comment: Try as he might, Trump cannot get out of Syria. He's being subverted at every turn by his advisers and the military-intelligence services. It sounds like they really do want Americans to be there for the next '400 years'.