US Military Brings 30-Truck Convoy into Syria’s Oil-Rich Hasaka

Official news agency SANA, citing local sources, reported on Sunday that the US military brought truckloads of weapons and logistical equipment into the Jazira region of Hasaka through the al-Walid border crossing earlier in the day.

The sources said the convoy, which had come from Iraq, headed toward military bases run by the US near Qamishli in the oil-rich province.

SANA reported on Saturday that a convoy of 20 American tankers had reportedly transported crude oil stolen from Syrian fields to neighboring Iraq.

The US, in collusion with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Kurdish militants operating against Damascus, controls most of the oil fields in al-Jazira. 

Over the past months, thousands of trucks carrying weapons and military and logistical equipment have entered the region.

The Pentagon alleges that the move aims to “protect” the fields and facilities from possible attacks by Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group, but President Donald Trump has said Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.

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

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 Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the Arab country. 

Syria, which has not authorized the presence of the US military in its territory, says Washington is “plundering” the country’s oil. Syria produced around 380,000 barrels of oil per day before the conflict erupted in 2011.

In August, Syria strongly condemned an agreement signed between the Kurdish-led SDF militant group and an American oil company aimed at stealing the country's oil, stressing that Damascus considers the contract null and void with no legal effect.