DAMASCUS (Xinhua) – The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Saturday demanded the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria.
In a statement, the ministry said the U.S. presence in Syria was illegal and demanded an end to the U.S. support to the Kurdish-led militias, which the ministry said served the U.S. interests in Syria.
The Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry also condemned the plundering of Syrian oil by the U.S. military forces, urging Washington to withdraw its illegitimate forces from the Arab country’s territory.
In a post on its Twitter page, the Syrian foreign ministry condemned the plunder of the country’s oil through the Syrian-Iraqi borders as an “act of piracy and an attempt to return to the colonial era,” urging the UNSC to denounce the acts and put an end to it, while pointing out that they are against international law and UN convention.
Meanwhile, Washington has reportedly continued to plunder Syria’s energy resources, by using dozens of tanker trucks to smuggle crude oil from the northeastern province of Hasakah to bases in neighboring Iraq where American forces and trainers are stationed.
Citing local sources in al-Ya’rubiyah town, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that a convoy of 50 tankers, laden with oil from the energy-rich Jazira region, left Syria through the illegal Mahmoudiya border crossing on Friday, and headed towards Iraqi territories.
SANA noted that U.S.-sponsored and Kurdish-led militants associated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces have assisted U.S. forces in their theft of Syrian crude oil over the past few weeks.
The development came a week after the U.S. military smuggled a consignment of stolen Syrian oil into northern Iraqi regions.
SANA reported that American occupation forces, under the protection of armored vehicles, used 14 tankers to plunder the natural resources of the Arab country through the illegal al-Waleed border crossing.
It added that 85 U.S. military tankers had smuggled thousands of liters of Syrian crude oil into northern Iraq through the illegal Mahmoudiya crossing a day earlier.
The U.S. 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 Daesh terrorists.
Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources. Former U.S. president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.