US Military Forces Smuggle Wheat Crops, Crude Oil from Syria to Iraq

Two separate convoys of US military trucks and tankers have carried tons of grain and crude oil from the Northeastern province of Hasakah to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq, as part of Washington’s systematic smuggling of basic commodities out of Syria.

Local sources, requesting anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that 92 military vehicles loaded with wheat crops and oil from the Jazira Region rumbled through Al-Waleed border crossing in Al-Ya'rubiyah region and entered the Iraqi territories on Monday.

The sources added that another convoy of 58 tankers carrying stolen oil headed for Northern Iraq through the illegal Al-Mahmoudiyah crossing.

The US military has for long stationed its forces and equipment in Northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists.

Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources. Former US President Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.