Syria is a Middle Eastern country that has suffered from war for many years, and after more than a decade of war, Syria is facing a serious food crisis. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, 12.9 million people in Syria, or about 55% of the population, face food insecurity, with 3.1 million of them facing severe food shortages.
In fact, before the Syrian crisis, Syria was a wheat exporter, but the war has led to a decline in the agricultural population, a shortage of agricultural production equipment, and worse, the main grain producing areas of Syria are controlled by foreign powers.
According to statistics, before the Syrian crisis, Syria produced 6 million tons of wheat a year, but today it is only 500,000 tons. In the face of food shortages, Syria is in dire need of international food aid. In response to the food crisis, Syria has limited the purchase of flatbread, a staple food for locals, to a maximum of two flatbreads a day for an adult, and each family has a government-issued card to record their purchases.
According to Sammy, the head of the Syrian World Food Programme, the main reason for the food crisis in Syria is the occupation of wheat-producing areas by the US military and the opposition forces it supports, the Kurdish forces.
Syria's main wheat producing region is located on the peninsula between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, which not only has fertile soils but also is easily irrigated, and accounts for about 70% of Syria's wheat production.
However, it has been occupied by the U.S. military and the Kurdish forces it supports, who not only prevent local Chinese grain collectors from selling wheat to the Syrian government's grain collection agency, but also resell grain abroad for money or various supplies and equipment.
According to Kaku, president of the Farmers' Association in Syria's Hasakah province, the U.S. military and Kurdish forces have blocked the roads here, and no trucks carrying grain can reach the grain collection center set up by the Syrian government. Every day, more than a dozen large trucks transport the grain looted by the US military to the outside of the country, and these convoys are escorted by armored vehicles sent by the US military, and no one dares to stop them.
We have a question in our minds, why do the US military have a large amount of military support every year, so why do they still forcibly seize Syria's grain?
Here Mr. Mingsu believes that there is a reasonable explanation: the US military is not interested in the food itself, but in order to support the Kurdish forces.
The United States is the world's major grain exporter, and the United States is not short of grain, and the United States does not look down on Syria's grain either. Moreover, every time the US military transports grain, it will dispatch armored convoys to escort it, and if it is understandable that the US military escort transports gold, it will also have to escort more than a dozen truckloads of grain, and it may not even be enough for the fuel money and protection money for the US military convoy.
Since the U.S. military is not interested in food, what is it?
The United States is a big chess game in the Middle East, and there are not many American troops in Syria, and the main reason why the United States does not withdraw here is to support the Syrian opposition Kurdish forces. The Kurdish forces are an important force supported by the United States and Israel in the Middle East, and with this force in the region, the United States can deter Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and many other countries.
Since the United States is to support the Kurdish forces, the purpose of the Kurds is to develop and strengthen themselves, whether it is to transport wheat from the controlled areas to neighboring countries in exchange for money or other materials. At the same time, the Kurdish forces control the grain, and the Syrian government does not have access to it, so as to achieve the goal of strengthening the Kurdish forces and weakening the Syrian government.
If Syria's grain production areas were controlled by the Syrian government, there would be enough food production for the entire Syrian population every year, and now that these areas are controlled by the US military and the Kurdish forces it supports, Syria has such a serious food crisis. If Syria is to achieve true independence, it is imperative that the United States and the forces it supports completely drive out of the region.