US military Apache helicopter goes down in Syria’s Hasakah: Report

The Arabic service of Russia’s Sputnik news agency, citing local sources, reported that the aircraft went down inside a US-run base at the al-Jabsa oil field in the oil-rich city of al-Shaddadi, located about 60 kilometers south of the provincial capital city of Hasakah, on Tuesday morning.

The sources said the helicopter crashed during a refueling operation, and there are reports of injuries among its crew members.

The US military has stationed 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, says the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s resources.  

The US first confirmed its looting of Syrian oil during a Senate hearing exchange between South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in late July last year.

On July 30 and during his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo confirmed for the first time that an American oil company would begin work in northeastern Syria, which is controlled by militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Syrian government strongly condemned the agreement, saying that the deal was struck to plunder the country’s natural resources, including oil and gas, under the sponsorship and support of the administration of US President Donald Trump.

‘US transfers Daesh inmates to own base in Tanf’

Separately, the US military reportedly transported dozens of Daesh militants from prisons run by allied militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria to al-Tanf military base in southern Syria near the Jordanian border.

Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources, reported on Monday that 70 Daesh terrorists had been moved to the base, warning that the military site is a sanctuary for the Takfiri militants who are supplied with various weapons and trained to carry out fresh acts of terror against Syrian government troops.

Back on May 14 last year, a number of captured members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group confessed to close cooperation with US military forces stationed at al-Tanf base.

During confessions broadcast on Syria’s state-run television network at the time, three Daesh terrorists revealed that they were instructed by American forces to target Syrian government troops in and around the ancient city of Palmyra, the Tiyas Military Airbase, the Shaer gas field as well as nearby oil wells.

The militants, who had been arrested during a security operation in the Syrian Desert, later pointed to the existence of coordination between their commanders and those of the so-called Revolutionary Commando Army, commonly known by the Arabic name Jaysh Maghawir al-Thawra.