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US intensifies theft of Syrian oil after al-Baghdadi's death

Crescent International

US troops illegally in Syria, provide protection to private contractors smuggling Syrian oil

In characteristic style, US President Donald Trump announced the death of Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Sunday October 27 as if he himself had pulled the trigger to eliminate the leader of the terrorist outfit.

It would, however, be unrealistic to assume that Baghdadi’s death would end US meddling in the region.

The terrorist outfit, Daesh (aka ISIS) and its leader were mere pretexts for continued US occupation of the Middle East.

America has been interfering in the region for nearly 80 years, long before even al-Baghdadi’s father was born. And it is not about to quit just because it has killed one of its own created terrorist monsters.

The day al-Baghdadi’s death was announced—it is reported that he blew himself up when surrounded by US forces in northeast Syria—American tanks were sent to Syrian oilfields to tighten US grip even further.

The Pentagon had announced on October 24 that it would prevent Syrian oil fields from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

The following day, while the Pentagon chief Mark Esper embarked on the Middle East tour, Trump announced that the US would not allow terrorists or “others” to occupy the oil wells.

By “others” Trump clearly meant the legitimate government of Syria that has not given permission for US forces to be based on its soil.

At the White House press conference on October 27 Trump also announced that he intended to “make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly ... and spread out the wealth.”

Who gave Trump the right to decide what should be done with Syrian oil or how it should be developed?

This is grand larceny and exposes the real reason for US presence in the Middle East. Whether it was Iraq before or Syria and Yemen now, Uncle Sam acts as a robber.

This is what it has done throughout life: plunder the resources of other countries.

Bruce Riedel, a former national security adviser and now senior fellow at Brookings Institution, said the plan “is not only a dubious legal move, it sends a message to the whole region and the world that America wants to steal the oil.”

Before the war was imposed on Syria in 2011, the country’s oil output was about 380,000 barrels/day. Today it is down to a mere 40,000 barrel.

This does not mean, its oil production has gone down. What has happened is that the Americans, the Turks and their mercenaries have been stealing Syria’s oil and selling it to other countries.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow on October 26: “the space intelligence images showed that oil was actively extracted and massively exported for processing outside Syria, under the reliable protection of US troops, before and after the defeat of the Daesh terrorists.”

The Russian general further revealed that US private military companies and special operations forces guarded the convoys as they traveled from Syria into Turkey or Iraqi Kurdistan.

“Tank trucks guarded by US military servicemen and private military companies smuggle oil from fields in eastern Syria to other countries and in the event of any attack on such a convoy, US special operations forces and combat aviation are immediately used to protect it,” General Konashenkov said.

America survives and thrives on plundering the resources of other countries. As the saying goes, ‘once a thief, always a thief’!


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