A convoy of 128 vehicles belonging to the US occupation was spotted leaving Syria for Iraq through the illegal Al-Walid border crossing on 4 January.

According to Syrian news outlets, the convoy comprised refrigerated trucks, trucks carrying military equipment, armored escorts vehicles, and 60 tankers carrying stolen Syrian oil.

Dozens of similar US convoys have been reported in recent months. On 18 December 2021, nearly one hundred oil tankers were smuggled into northern Iraq through the same illegal crossing.

Damascus has accused the US of using its occupation of the country to loot Syrian oil and agricultural crops.

The US government claims that its troops are in Syria to fight against ISIS, but coincidentally, the majority of its illegal bases are located in oil-producing regions.

US companies with links to Washington have also openly signed oil deals with armed groups fighting against the government of Syria.

In August 2020, a US company, Delta Crescent Energy, signed a deal with the armed groups to develop oil wells and a refinery in areas under the US occupation.

Damascus reacted angrily to this move and accused the US of engaging in ”state piracy.”

A statement by the Syrian foreign ministry read: ”Syria considers this agreement null and void and has no legal effect. And it warns again that such despicable acts express the approach of those client militias, which have accepted being cheap puppets in the hands of the US occupation.”

The theft of the Syrian oil is robbing the Syrian government of the revenue badly needed for the provision of services to the citizens.

The revenue is also needed to repair the damage caused by the decade-long conflict between the government and western-backed armed groups that have been trying to overthrow the government since 2011.

The Syrian people have also been forced to rely on imported oil due to the shortage caused by the US theft of their national resource.