Original title: Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Urge the US to immediately stop plundering Syrian national resources and pursue legal responsibility for the US military’s robbery
On September 21, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hosted a regular press conference. A reporter asked a question about the U.S. military’s theft of oil in Syria.
Wang Wenbin said that we have noticed relevant reports that it is not the first time that the US military has stolen oil in Syria, and it is becoming more and more rampant. The statement of the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources pointed out that the average daily oil production of Syria in the first half of 2022 was about 80,300 barrels, of which 82%, or about 66,000 barrels of oil per day, were plundered by the US military and its armed forces.
Wang Wenbin said that according to reports, since August, there have been at least 10 incidents of the U.S. military stealing oil from Syria, and a total of about 800 oil tankers have been used to transport them to U.S. military bases outside Syria. At the same time, Syrians waiting to refuel were lined up at gas stations for hours.
Wang Wenbin said that Syrian officials said that as of the first half of this year, the U.S. military’s exploitation, smuggling and illegal trading of Syrian oil, natural gas and mineral resources had caused direct losses to Syria of $18.2 billion, while the number of civilians in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria exceeded 14 million. What the US military has done has greatly exacerbated the humanitarian disaster in Syria. Like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and other countries, Syria is also a victim of the US’s so-called rules-based order.
Wang Wenbin pointed out that under the so-called rules-based order of the United States, the human rights and lives of the Syrian people are being deprived, not upheld. We urge the US to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respond to the voice of the Syrian people, immediately lift unilateral sanctions on Syria, immediately stop plundering Syria’s national resources, pursue legal responsibility for the US military’s robbery, pay the Syrian people’s losses, and make up for it with concrete actions damage to the Syrian people. (CCTV reporter Zhao Jing and Kong Luyuan)