China urges US to stop stealing Syrian resources

China has again urged the United States to stop plundering Syria's national resources. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin warned that the US military is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis on the ground. This must stop immediately.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has urged the United States to immediately stop looting Syria's national resources. "It's not the first time US troops have stolen oil from Syria. Their banditry has only gotten more ruthless," Wang told a news conference on Wednesday, confirming reports that Washington had "stolen oil" from "occupied Syrian oil fields " delivered to northern Iraq.

According to Wang, around 90 percent of the Syrian population currently lives below the poverty line, and two thirds of the population are also dependent on humanitarian aid. "The US military continues to occupy key grain and oil producing areas in Syria, looting and pillaging Syria's resources, aggravating the humanitarian crisis on the ground," he said. The US boasted around the world that it upheld the highest standards of human rights and the rule of law. In fact, the actions of the United States in Syria prove that they are failing miserably in these areas.

"According to the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, the average daily production in the first half of 2022 was 80,300 barrels, while the US occupying forces and their mercenaries stole up to 66,000 barrels every day, accounting for 82 percent of total oil production," Wang continued away. In the last eight weeks alone, the Syrian authorities have recorded at least ten oil thefts by US troops. "Some 800 tankers were used to ship the stolen oil to US bases outside Syria. Meanwhile, people in Syria had to wait in line for hours to fill up at gas stations."

According to a senior Syrian official, the estimated value of direct losses resulting from the exploration, smuggling and illicit trade of Syrian oil, gas and minerals was US$18.2 billion by the end of the first half of 2022. Dollar. The actions of the US troops have thus made the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria even worse.

"Syria is another victim of the US rules-based order, along with Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Under this order, the Syrian people are deprived of their rights and lives instead of being protected," Wang said. At the same time, he called on the United States to respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to respond to the demands of the Syrian people: "The US must immediately lift the unilateral sanctions against Syria, end the plundering of Syria's national resources, the US troops legally hold them accountable, compensate the Syrian people and take concrete action to repair the suffering they have inflicted on Syria."

The Syrian Arab news agency SANA reported in late July that US forces had transported tankers loaded with stolen oil and vehicles carrying military equipment from the Jazeera region of Hasakah province to Iraqi territory. The US military has long stationed its forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming the deployment is aimed at preventing the region's oil fields from falling into the hands of IS terrorists. Damascus, on the other hand, claims the operation is intended to plunder the country's natural resources.

According to them, the actions carried out by the US constituted state piracy aimed at stealing Syria's oil reserves and depriving the Syrians of their own resources - and this in a difficult economic situation, largely managed by the occupiers, the Americans themselves , is caused. Allegations that former US President Donald Trump even admitted in 2019. At a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the time, he emphasized: "We keep [Syria's] oil. We have the oil. The oil is safe. We only left our troops behind because of the oil."

Several countries, including Russia and China, have condemned the US crackdown on looting Syria's resources and have repeatedly called on Washington to end the war-torn country's continued looting of its natural resources.