The Syrian Oil Ministry released a statement on 9 August accusing US forces occupying Syria of being responsible for the theft of most of the country’s oil.

“The amount of oil production during the first half of 2022 amounted to some 14.5 million barrels, with an average daily production of 80.3 thousand barrels, of which 14.2 thousand are delivered daily to refineries,” the oil ministry’s statement said.

The statement went on to say that “US occupation forces and their mercenaries,” referring to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), “steal up to 66,000 barrels every single day from the fields occupied in the eastern region,” amounting to around 83 percent of Syria’s daily oil production.

According to the ministry’s data, the Syrian oil sector has incurred losses nearing “about 105 billion dollars since the beginning of the war until the middle of this year” as a result of the US oil theft campaign.

Additionally, the statement added that alongside the financial losses incurred by the oil sector were “losses of life, including 235 martyrs, 46 injured and 112 kidnapped.”

On 10 August, footage filmed by a Russian attack helicopter was released on social media, showing a convoy of trucks operated by the US military, smuggling stolen oil destined for Iraq, out of Raqqah.

The Syrian Oil Ministry released a statement on 9 August accusing US forces occupying Syria of being responsible for the theft of most of the country’s oil.

“The amount of oil production during the first half of 2022 amounted to some 14.5 million barrels, with an average daily production of 80.3 thousand barrels, of which 14.2 thousand are delivered daily to refineries,” the oil ministry’s statement said.

The statement went on to say that “US occupation forces and their mercenaries,” referring to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), “steal up to 66,000 barrels every single day from the fields occupied in the eastern region,” amounting to around 83 percent of Syria’s daily oil production.

According to the ministry’s data, the Syrian oil sector has incurred losses nearing “about 105 billion dollars since the beginning of the war until the middle of this year” as a result of the US oil theft campaign.

Additionally, the statement added that alongside the financial losses incurred by the oil sector were “losses of life, including 235 martyrs, 46 injured and 112 kidnapped.”

On 10 August, footage filmed by a Russian attack helicopter was released on social media, showing a convoy of trucks operated by the US military, smuggling stolen oil destined for Iraq, out of Raqqah.

Local sources in Syria’s Hasakah governorate reported on 6 August that the US army looted and smuggled dozens of oil tankers out of the country, making it the second stolen oil shipment by the US that week.

Nearly 200 tanker trucks filled with looted oil were smuggled out of Syria by US troops in July alone, as Washington has intensified its practice of stealing Syrian resources to sell abroad.

On 19 July, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the US government to stop its consistent looting of Syria’s natural resources.

The US military is also responsible for plundering the country’s wheat, exacerbating an acute food crisis that is plaguing Syria and the rest of West Asia.

‘Washington needs to stop stealing Syrian oil’: Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the US government to stop its practice of looting Syria’s natural resources.

“We have common positions on the Euphrates River regarding the need for US forces to leave this land, and they must stop looting [from] the Syrian people by illegally extracting oil,” Putin said on 19 July during a press conference at the conclusion of a tripartite summit in Tehran.

The leaders of Russia, Turkey, and Iran gathered in the Iranian capital for the seventh summit of the Astana Process – which seeks to establish a political solution to put an end to the Syrian war.

“Russia is concerned that there are regions which are still out of the State’s control under support of western countries, [on top of this] the US continues, along with its tools, looting Syria’s natural resources,” the Russian president added.

Putin also stressed the need to return the area east of the Euphrates to the “legitimate authority of the Syrian government.”

Last month, US occupation troops smuggled over 100 tanker trucks filled with oil plundered from Syria’s vast oil fields. Dozens of trucks packed with Syrian wheat were also smuggled into US bases in Iraq.

Once a major wheat producer, Syria is now facing food shortages as a result of 11 years of war.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), nearly 60 percent of Syria’s 21 million people are food insecure, lacking secure access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. Meanwhile, more than a million Syrians are “severely food insecure,” or unable to survive without humanitarian assistance.

US troops and their proxy militia in northern Syria – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – are in control of most resources in Hasakah and Deir Ezzor governorates, and have been regularly smuggling Syrian oil out of the country to sell it abroad.

While the US claims its presence in Syria aims to prevent the country’s vast oilfields from falling into the hands of ISIS, Damascus maintains the deployment of US occupation troops is illegal and only meant to drain the country of its resources.

US occupation troops steal wheat from Syria to send to Iraq

US occupation forces in Syria led a convoy of 40 trucks, each filled up with stolen Syrian wheat, into Iraq from Syria, according to an 18 June report from the Syrian state news agency SANA.

The report indicates that the US military, along with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), looted large quantities of wheat from the Al-Jazeera region and transported it towards the Al-Waleed border crossing, where it entered Iraq on 18 June.

The report noted that this was not the only convoy filled with stolen goods led by the US military. Another convoy with 36 vehicles, filled with stolen Syrian wheat, crossed the Al-Waleed border from the Tal Hamis area.

The US recently deployed military and logistical equipment in nearby Hasakah, Syria.

Damascus considers US presence in northeastern Syria a means of stealing Syrian resources.

US troops also use the Al-Waleed crossing to transfer stolen oil derivatives into Iraq. On 14 May, a US military convoy of 70 oil tankers filled with smuggled fuel crossed the border into Iraq.

A day earlier, 46 US vehicles were reportedly transferred out of Syria through the same border crossing.

US troops and the SDF are in control of most of the oil fields in Hasakah and Deir Ezzor and have been regularly smuggling Syrian oil out of the country to sell it abroad.

Dozens of similar US convoys have been reported over the last year and a half. On 18 December 2021, nearly one hundred oil tankers were smuggled into northern Iraq through the same illegal crossing.

On 10 January, Syrian media reported that the US occupation and one of its various armed groups set up a refinery to process stolen oil in the town of Rmelan in Hasakah governorate.

The US military routinely smuggles Syrian oil into northern Iraq, in a move that is both in violation of international law and routine practice that shows how deeply entrenched the US is in its occupation of both nations.

The theft of Syrian food and fuel supplies is taking place amid a global food and fuel crisis.

Countries like Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen are already dealing with severe economic and food crises.

Once a major wheat producer, Syria is now facing food shortages. The western-backed war on Syria as well as a recent drought has made Syria more dependent on Russian wheat.

In a 15 March investigation by The Cradle, analyst Léa Azzi highlighted the current situation facing the Levantine nation.

“The Syrian Republic is by no means the only country in West Asia whose food security and living standards are under threat by the implications of Russia’s war with Ukraine. These states will also be inflicted with the burden of rising oil and gas prices which directly increase the cost of shipping, manufacturing, and general prices of goods and services. These in turn will add further strain to families faced with reduced purchasing power.”

“Syria was the only Arab state which was self-reliant in wheat production, and once had the most productive agricultural system in all of West Asia,” Azzi noted.

Just weeks after the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Kiev banned the exports of rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sugar, salt, and meat until the end of the year.

Western sanctions imposed on Moscow have led to major disruptions in the supply chain, and most countries now face harsh penalties if they continue to do business with Russia, the world’s largest supplier of wheat and major producer of fertilizers.