WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The U.S. military has brought a convoy of vehicles loaded with military equipment and tanker trucks carrying stolen oil from Syria to its bases in northern Iraq.
Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Monday that the convoy was made up of 111 vehicles, adding that it crossed into Iraq via al-Waleed, an illegal border crossing in the countryside of Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah.
Local sources said the convoy was escorted by six armored vehicles, SANA reported.
According to the report, the oil was smuggled out of the area of al-Jazeera in northeastern Syria.
Earlier this month, a U.S. convoy of 128 vehicles transferred military equipment and Syrian oil into northern Iraq.
On December 30 last year, U.S. troops brought reinforcements from neighboring Iraq into areas in northeastern Syria.
The American forces brought in generators, refrigerators and a number of battle tanks through al-Waleed illegal border crossing between Iraq and Syria, SANA said, adding that 40 military vehicles entered the Syrian territories.
The U.S. military has stationed forces and equipment in eastern and 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.
Damascus, however, says the unlawful deployment is meant to plunder the country’s resources.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in Syria for its oil.
Failing to oust the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad through its proxies and direct involvement in the conflict, the U.S. government has in recent years stepped up its economic war on the Arab country.