The United States, its allies, and its mercenaries are stealing Syria’s oil in the northeastern part of the country, under the guard of 900 illegally stationed U.S. armed forces. In a September 14, 2022 interview with China’s Global Times, Syrian Ambassador to China Mohammed Hasanein Khaddam revealed what is involved in the stealing, its extent, and the means by which it is done.
In an interview published on Sept. 14, 2022, stinging language, Khaddam told the Global Times:
“The U.S. stealing of Syrian national treasure is a long-time crime. In fact, the U.S. occupation forces on Syrian territories have continued what ISIS was doing—stealing and destroying oil fields’ and pipelines’ machinery. The U.S. occupation forces learned all that from ISIS, and followed the same ISIS deeds, no difference whatsoever, to steal the Syrian oil in tanks on weekly, and sometimes daily basis, and smuggle it outside the country.
“What matters for the Syrian people is they are deprived of their natural wealth…. The crime is stealing, and the thief is ‘the leader of the free world’ or the worst terrorist group. They share the same vision and policies and commit the same crimes. Please notice that the U.S. is the richest country in the world, stealing from a third world country, and imposing illegal unilateral measures to suffocate the economy and people of this country, and ‘starve and freeze the people to death’ as one U.S. politician described U.S. policies in Syria.”
According to the Syrian Oil Ministry and Ambassador Khaddam, the U.S. and its allies are stealing an average of 66,000 barrels of oil per day (24 million barrels/year), which constitutes four-fifths of Syria’s current oil production of 80,000 barrels/day. The bulk of the oil production is located in that portion of the northeastern governorate of Deir Ezzor, east of the Euphrates River, which is under the control of the Kurdish militia Syrian Democratic Front/People’s Protection Unit (SDF/YPG). The SDF “government” is backed and protected, and in part created, by the United States. The United States has 500 stationed of its 900 forces in Syria, in the Deir Ezzor oil fields (and also wheat fields), from which the oil is being stolen. When the oil is sold, almost none of the revenue goes to the government of the Syrian Arab Republic.
