Xinhua News Agency, Damascus, August 15th (International Observation) Forcibly plundering life and death – the United States has committed numerous crimes in the Middle East
Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jian
On a road leading to the border in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah, U.S. military tankers lined up beyond sight. These military vehicles loaded with oil stolen from Syria drove across the border into Iraq one after another and disappeared into the distance. At the same time, residents living in the Syrian capital Damascus have been waiting for hours at the gas station, and there is no end in sight of the vehicles lining up to refuel. Such sights are commonplace in Syria.
“Stealing oil” is one of the numerous crimes committed by the United States in the Middle East. In order to maintain its hegemony and seek personal gain, the United States has frequently plundered resources, created conflicts, and arbitrarily imposed sanctions in the Middle East, seriously undermining the rights to life, health and development of the local people, creating a serious humanitarian disaster.
This is an attacked scientific research center in the Barzah area, northeast of Damascus, Syria, on April 14, 2018. In the early morning of the same day, many targets of the government and military in Syria were suddenly attacked by the United States, Britain and France. (Published by Xinhua News Agency, photo by Memari)
blatant looting
The Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources recently issued a statement saying that in the first half of this year, the average daily output of Syrian oil was 80,300 barrels, of which more than 80%, or about 66,000 barrels, were plundered by “the US military and the armed forces it supports”.
The Syrian News Agency reported on the 13th that the U.S. military dispatched a convoy of 89 oil tankers that day to transfer oil stolen from Syria to bases in Iraq through illegal border crossings. On the 11th, 144 vehicles were transported for illegal oil extraction.
Since 2014, the United States has deployed troops in eastern and northeastern Syria. In recent years, the Syrian government has repeatedly accused the US military of stealing and transshipping oil in northeastern Syria. Syrian Oil and Mineral Resources Minister Bassam Touma said that the United States and its allies have plundered Syria’s oil wealth like pirates.
The northeastern part of Syria is an oil warehouse and a granary. Abdul-Hamid Karaku, chairman of the Hasakah Provincial Farmers’ Union, said that 60-70% of Syria’s grain production is concentrated in Hasakah Province. According to local media reports, the US military has repeatedly smuggled or burned Syrian wheat. Syria used to be a food exporter, but the years of war have made it now facing a food shortage and needs to import to meet domestic demand. According to estimates by the World Food Programme, some 12.4 million people in Syria are currently without food security, the worst situation on record.
Mohammad Omari, an expert on Syrian politics, said that the looting of natural resources such as oil is one of the ugliest actions of the United States in Syria.
Children evacuated from rebel-held areas eat at a temporary settlement in Kipling, the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on December 9, 2016. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Zhen)
horrific atrocity
Before the Syrian crisis erupted in 2011, the country had a population of more than 22 million. As of July 2022, the number of registered Syrian refugees alone exceeds 5.6 million, according to the UNHCR. According to data released by the United Nations, the US military intervention has caused at least 350,000 lives in Syria, more than 12 million people have been displaced, and 14 million civilians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
Between 2016 and 2019 alone, 3,833 civilians, half of whom were women and children, were recorded as direct deaths in Syria as a direct result of bombing by the U.S.-led coalition.
Syrian political analyst Usama Danullah said the displacement of civilians and casualties caused by the airstrikes is one of the crimes committed by the United States in violation of human rights in Syria, but the United States only refers to this as “collateral damage”.
Such atrocities are not only happening in Syria. According to the Global Statistical Database, in Iraq, from 2003 to 2021, about 209,000 civilians died in the war and related violence launched by the United States, and about 9.2 million Iraqis became refugees or were forced to leave their homeland. In Libya, the United States is deeply involved in the local internal conflict by fostering proxies. Jalil, the former chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council, pointed out that the ongoing civil unrest has led to the deaths of many Libyans, “and the United States does not care about the consequences of military operations and wars.”
In 2007, employees of the American Blackwater Security Company carried out a massacre in Nisour Square in Baghdad, killing 14 civilians, including two children, and injuring at least 17 others. In 2020, then-President Trump even pardoned Blackwater employees who committed war crimes in Iraq. The United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Mercenaries said in a statement that the U.S. government’s actions have impacted international humanitarian law and human rights, and are an affront to justice and the victims and their families.
A Syrian textile worker works in a factory in the Qatari industrial zone in Aleppo on March 7. (Published by Xinhua News Agency, photo by Amar Safarjalani)
outrageous sanctions
In addition to military intervention, the United States has long imposed harsh unilateral sanctions on Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. In 2019, the United States introduced the so-called “Caesar Act”, setting up numerous obstacles for foreign investors to invest and build in Syria. Since 1979, the United States has imposed various unilateral sanctions on Iran and other countries for a long time. In 1996, the so-called “D’Amato Act” was thrown out, prohibiting foreign companies from investing in the energy industries of Iran and Libya.
Affected by the sanctions, the currencies of these Middle Eastern countries have depreciated and prices have skyrocketed. Local production and business activities have been affected, foreign investment projects have been stranded, and economic development and reconstruction processes have faced many difficulties.
Omari pointed out that the U.S. economic sanctions against Syria have made it difficult for the Syrian people to obtain basic living security, and also weakened the ability of Syrian public institutions to provide basic services such as water and electricity. Shahr Obedi, a political analyst at Anbar University in Iraq, said that American hegemony often causes comprehensive damage to the local economy, culture and other fields.
By launching wars, unilateral sanctions, and plundering wealth, the true face of the US’s hegemony in the name of “freedom, democracy, and human rights” has been recognized by the international community including Middle Eastern countries.
Adil Gurairi, a professor at the University of Baghdad in Iraq, said that, as many historians have pointed out, the United States has always tried to create divisions and crises in other countries, inciting ethnic antagonisms and conflicts for personal gain. German writer Michael Ludes, the author of “False Saint America”, pointed out that Americans always say that they belong to the “good camp” and represent “freedom, democracy, and human rights”. In fact, this is not the case at all. Americans just for personal gain. (Participating reporters: Fan Shuaishuai, Dong Yalei, Liu Weijian, Yao Bing)