US ramps up Syrian oil plunder, dispatches 50 tankers to Hashakah

Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources requesting not to be named, said a convoy of 50 tankers rumbled through the Waleed border crossing and entered the Jazira Region on Thursday.

The sources added that the vehicles later headed toward the Iraqi territory.

Since late October 2019, the United States has been redeploying troops to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces in eastern Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops there.

The Pentagon alleges that the move aims to “protect” the fields and facilities from possible attacks by Daesh, ignoring the fact that Trump had earlier suggested that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.

Syria, which has not authorized the presence of the US military in its territory, says Washington is “plundering” the country’s oil.

The presence of US forces in eastern Syria has particularly irked the civilians, and local residents have on several occasions stopped American military convoys entering the region.

Earlier this week, the US military sent a new convoy of trucks carrying military and logistical equipment to the northeastern province of Hasakah.

Unnamed local sources in the town of Yaarubiyah told SANA at the time that a convoy of about 50 vehicles had crossed the al-Walid border crossing into Syrian territory on June 7.