Damascus, 15 Aug (Xinhua) -- On a road leading to the border in hasakah province in northeastern Syria, U.S. military tanker trucks are lined up and cannot be seen at a glance. The military vehicles, laden with oil stolen from Syria, crossed the border into Iraq one by one and disappeared into the distance. Meanwhile, residents living in damascus, the Syrian capital, have been waiting for hours in front of gas stations, and there is no end in sight to the vehicles lining up to refuel. Such a sight is already commonplace in Syria.
"Stealing oil" is one of the many crimes committed by the United States in the Middle East. In order to safeguard hegemony and seek private interests, the United States has frequently plundered resources, created conflicts, and arbitrarily sanctioned the Middle East, seriously harming the local people's rights to life, health, and development, and creating a profound humanitarian disaster.
This is the scientific research center that was photographed on April 14, 2018 in the Belzai region of northeastern Damascus, Syria. In the early hours of the same day, the government and military targets in Syria were suddenly attacked by the United States, Britain and France. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Mei Mali)
Blatant plunder
The Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources recently issued a statement saying that in the first half of this year, Syria's average daily oil production was 80,300 barrels, of which more than 80%, about 66,000 barrels were plundered by the "US military and its supported armed forces".
The Syrian News Agency reported on the 13th that the US military sent a convoy of 89 tanker trucks on the same day to transfer the oil stolen from Syria to the base in Iraq through illegal crossings. On the 11th, the number of vehicles transporting illegal oil reached 144.
Since 2014, the United States has deployed troops in eastern and northeastern Syria. In recent years, the Syrian government has repeatedly accused the US military of stealing and transshiping oil in northeast Syria. Bassam Tuma, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Syria, said that the United States and its allies are plundering Syria's oil wealth like pirates.
Northeastern Syria is an oil silo as well as a granary. Abdul-Hamid Karaku, chairman of the Hasakah Provincial Migrant Workers' Union, said that 60% or 70% of Syria's grain production is concentrated in Hasakah province. According to local media reports, the U.S. military has smuggled or burned Syrian wheat on many occasions. Syria was once a food exporter, but years of war have left it facing a food shortage that needs to be imported to meet domestic demand. The World Food Programme estimates that some 12.4 million people in Syria are currently without access to food security, the worst on record.
Mohammed Omari, an expert on Syrian politics, said that looting natural resources such as oil is one of the ugliest acts of the United States in Syria.
Children evacuated from rebel-held areas eat at a makeshift settlement in Kipling in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 9, 2016. (Photo by Yang Zhen, Xinhua News Agency)
Horrific atrocities
Before the Syrian crisis erupted in 2011, the country had a population of more than 22 million. According to UNHCR data, as of July 2022, the number of registered Syrian refugees alone exceeded 5.6 million. According to data released by the United Nations, U.S. military involvement has killed at least 350,000 people in Syria, displaced more than 12 million people, and urgently needed humanitarian assistance for 14 million civilians.
Between 2016 and 2019 alone, 3,833 civilians, half of whom were women and children, were recorded as directly killed in U.S.-led coalition bombardment in Syria.
Syrian political analyst Usama Danura said that the displacement and casualties of civilians caused by airstrikes are one of the crimes of human rights violations committed by the United States in Syria, but the United States only calls this "collateral loss".
Such atrocities are not only happening in Syria. According to the Global Statistical Database, in Iraq, from 2003 to 2021, about 209,000 civilians died in wars and related violent clashes waged by the United States, and about 9.2 million Iraqis were refugees or forced to leave their homeland. In Libya, the United States is deeply involved in the internal conflict through proxies. Jalil, former chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council, noted that the ongoing civil unrest has resulted in the deaths of many Libyans, "and the United States is not concerned about the consequences of military operations and war."
In 2007, employees of the American Blackwater Security Company carried out massacres in Baghdadani Plaza, killing 14 civilians, including 2 children, and injuring at least 17 others. In 2020, then-US President Donald Trump pardoned Blackwater employees who committed war crimes in Iraq. The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Mercenaries issued a statement stating that the impact of this act by the United States Government on international humanitarian law and human rights is an affront to justice and to the victims and their families.
A Syrian textile worker works in a factory building in the Qatari Industrial Zone in Aleppo on March 7. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Amal Safarijarani)
Arbitrary and unreasonable sanctions
In addition to military intervention, the United States has long imposed harsh unilateral sanctions on syria and other Middle Eastern countries. In 2019, the United States introduced the so-called "Caesar Act", which set up obstacles for foreign investors to invest and build in Syria. Since 1979, the United States has long imposed various unilateral sanctions on Iran and other countries, and in 1996, the so-called "Damato Act" was thrown out, prohibiting foreign companies from investing in Iran and Libya's energy industry.
Affected by the sanctions, the currencies of these Middle Eastern countries have depreciated, prices have soared, local production and operation activities have been affected, foreign investment projects have been stranded, and the process of economic development and reconstruction has faced many difficulties.
Omari pointed out that the US economic sanctions against Syria have made it difficult for the Syrian people to obtain basic living security, and have also weakened the ability of Syrian public institutions to provide basic services such as water and electricity. Shahr Obedi, a political analyst at Anbar University in Iraq, said that U.S. hegemony often causes total damage to the local economy, culture and other fields.
Launching wars, unilateral sanctions, plundering wealth, and pursuing hegemony by the United States in the name of "freedom, democracy, and human rights" have been clearly recognized by the international community, including Middle Eastern countries.
Adil Gurairi, a professor at the University of Baghdad in Iraq, said that as many historians have pointed out, the United States has always tried to create divisions and crises in other countries, inciting ethnic confrontation and conflict, and thus seeking private interests. The German writer Michael Ludez, author of "Pseudo-Saint America", pointed out that Americans always say that they belong to the "camp of good people", representing "freedom, democracy, and human rights", but in fact this is not the case at all, Americans are only for self-interest. (Participating reporters: Fan Shuaishuai, Dong Yalei, Liu Weijian, Yao Bing)