RTFri, 01 Nov 2019 19:29 UTC
© AFP / Delil SouleimanA Syrian man walks on as US armoured vehicles patrol the northeastern town of Qahtaniyah at the border with Turkey, on October 31, 2019.
A supposed champion of the rule of law, the US is violating its own anti-Syrian sanctions by smuggling crude from oil fields it seized from Damascus, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said.
Each month the US smuggles crude worth $30 million out of Syria, according to Zakharova. The fuel comes from fields in the northeastern part of the country, where the US maintains a military presence after pulling its troops back from the Syrian-Turkish border.
"A nation that repeats ad nauseam that it sticks to democratic values and rule of law in international relations, is pumping oil... under a pretense of fighting ISIL," the official said, using an outdated name for terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
ISIL had been fully destroyed in March this year, according to the statements of the coalition. The narrative of the Americans doesn't hold water.
Oil fields in the Deir ez-Zor governorate, east of the River Euphrates, were captured by US-backed Kurdish militias as they advanced on IS forces.
Washington makes no secret of the fact that it keeps an illegal military presence in the area in order to deny Damascus access to the natural resources that it has every right to possess under international law.
© Ministry of Defence of the Russian FederationSatellite image provided by the Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday shows oil transit vehicles gather in Deir ez-Zor Province, Syria, 10 km east of Al Mayadin as part of the US's illegal operation to ship oil out of Syria.
The US considers the Syrian government illegitimate and has used various means to attempt to topple it over the past eight years, from imposing harsh economic sanctions to arming and training whoever was willing to fight against Damascus. The fact that the US banned oil trade with Syria and is now smuggling oil out of it is particularly ironic, Zakharova said.
Comment: Pentagon chief Esper has
doubled down on the U.S.' intent to steal Syrian oil:
Secretary of Defence Mark Esper has confirmed that the US plans to continue controlling Syria's oil fields, and to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists or "other actors".
"The mission is, as I've spoken to and I've conveyed it to the commander, and that is, we will secure oil fields to deny their access to ISIS* and other actors in the region, and to ensure that the [Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces] has continued access, because those resources are - are important, and so that the SDF -can do its mission, what it needs to do in the region," Esper said, speaking to reporters on Thursday after meeting with Australian Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds.
[...] US efforts to seize control of Syria's oil fields have been criticised by Syria and its allies. Last week, the Russian military presented intelligence materials on a $30 million a month oil smuggling scheme used by the Pentagon and the CIA which Moscow described as nothing short of "international state banditry". According to Russian intelligence, the illegal US-supervised extraction of Syrian oil was being carried out by "leading American corporations" and private military contractors, with US special forces and air power used for protection.
Oil revenues could serve as a much-needed support for rebuilding the war-torn country. Last year, Damascus estimated that rebuilding the country could require up to $400 billion in spending, and take over a decade to complete. The US and its European allies have refused to commit funding toward the reconstruction effort, even as hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have returned home in recent years amid the lull in fighting.
This week, the United Nations called for Syria relief, with a Syrian government representative warning that the future of the Syrian peace process may be threatened by the continued illegal presence of foreign forces on Syrian territory, "the spoliation of the resources of our country and the continuing imposition of unilateral economic sanctions".
In other words, the U.S. intends to
hamstring any effort made to rebuild Syria or, failing that, hopes to push the brunt of the cost onto Russia and Iran:
A video posted to Twitter allegedly shows a U.S. convoy leaving a Syrian oil field:
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