US forces, accompanied by Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters, drive their armoured vehicles near the northern Syrian village of Darbasiyah, on the border with Turkey on April 28, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / DELIL SOULEIMAN
U.S. forces are looting oil fields and farmlands in the northeastern region of Syria, head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Department Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said at a Defense Ministry briefing on July 29.
The Russian commander added that the number of U.S. private military contractors deployed in northeastern Syria’s oil fields has surpassed 3,500.
“Syrian oil is extracted and sold from the fields of Conico, al-Omar and al-Tanak located on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. There is a criminal scheme to transport Syrian oil across the border,” Col. Gen. Rudskoi said.
Northeastern Syria is currently controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the U.S. main proxy in the war-tron country. The group’s Kurdish-dominated self-administration has full control of all natural resources in the region.
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Last month, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, revealed that the U.S. has been increasing the number of private military contractors deployed in northeastern Syria.
Several reports had accused the self-administration in northeastern Syria of engaging in illegal oil trade. However, it remains unclear if U.S. private military companies are taking a part in these activists in a way or another.
