ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Damascus on Sunday accused Washington of “looting” Syria’s resources over the past 12 years, claiming that the continued US “aggression” on Syrian soil has cost the country more than 115$ billion in natural resources revenue during that time period.
In a letter to the UN Secretary-General and Security Council president, the Syrian foreign ministry called on the international community to hold the US accountable for the damage inflicted on the country’s oil and gas sector due to its “illegal” military presence northeast and southeast of the country.
“The United States of America and its tools of terrorist organizations and militias continue to violate sovereignty and loot the country’s wealth and strategic resources, with the aim of exacerbating the effects of illegal unilateral coercive measures and depriving Syrians of the capabilities of their homeland and increasing their suffering,” Syrian state media (SANA) cited the letter as saying.
The Syrian foreign ministry estimated that the country had lost around 27.5$ billion directly due to the US forces’ “theft and waste” of oil and gas, as well as “vandalism” and airstrikes targeting oil and gas facilities.
The letter also blamed US forces for having cost Damascus 87.7$ billion dollars in “indirect losses,” implying their presence has contributed to the decrease in oil and gas production.
Damascus demanded an end to the US military presence in Syria, stressing that Washington needs to return the lands and oil and gas fields it has “occupied,” to the Syrian government and provide compensations for the damage it has caused.
Syrians rose up against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, leading to a full-scale civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrian people and has left millions more in need of humanitarian assistance.
About a thousand US troops stationed in northeast Syria are part of an international coalition that has mostly fought alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since 2014 to ensure the lasting defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS).
