Dozens of tankers enter northern Iraq as US continues to steal Syrian oil

The military forces of the United States have smuggled a new consignment of stolen Syrian oil into northern Iraqi regions as Washington continues plundering the natural resources of the Arab country through illegal border crossings.

Quoting local sources in Yarubiyah countryside on Thursday, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported the new act of looting.

"The American occupation forces stole additional quantities of oil by 14 tankers, under the protection of military armored vehicles, to the illegal Al-Walid crossing with Iraqi territory," said the report.

It also added that another 85 tankers had been smuggled by the American forces into northern Iraq through the illegal crossing of Mahmoudiya a day earlier.

US forces steal Syrian oil on a regular basis despite international condemnation.

• China calls on US to 'end theft of Syria’s national resources'

Earlier in September, 88 tankers laden with oil were transferred to Iraqi regions through illegal border crossings.

The Syrian oil ministry announced in late August that the US and its proxy militant groups pillaged over 80 percent of Syria’s daily crude production in the first half of 2022.

The ministry said in a statement that the amount of oil production during the first half of 2022 “amounted to some 14.5 million barrels, with an average daily production of 80.3 thousand barrels, of which 14.2 thousand are delivered daily to refineries.”

“US occupation forces and their mercenaries steal up to 66,000 barrels every single day from the fields occupied in the eastern region,” the statement added.

According to the ministry’s data, the Syrian oil sector has lost “about 105 billion dollars since the beginning of the war until the middle of this year” as a result of the US oil theft campaign.

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.

• US occupation cost Syria $107.1bn in oil, gas sector losses: Damascus

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.

In infamous comments made in 2019, Trump said: “We’re keeping [Syria’s] oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind only for the oil.”

Several countries, including Russia and China, have condemned US actions in plundering the Syrian resources and have called on Washington to stop its continued looting of the war-torn country’s natural resources.

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