US is stealing Syria’s oil, again

Washington’s black-market oil trade will destroy any hope left for peace and democracy in Syria. From Iran, Russia and Turkey to Europe, every government actively involved in the Syrian peace process bears responsibility for stopping this illegal scheme.

It is their responsibility to stop Washington and its oil autocrats on their tracks. It is also their responsibility to step up the international campaign to settle the Syrian refugee question, and back restoration of Syria’s territorial integrity.

The following is an article in this regard which has appeared on the frontpage of English language website of Fars news agency under the heading: "US is stealing Syria’s oil, again."

The United States plans to seize control of Syria’s oilfields, and they will repel anyone else trying to take that oil with “overwhelming force.”

According to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, this is the chief military goal of the US in the war-torn country, which will include sending more occupation troops and tanks to “deny access” to the oil reserves to either Russia or the Syrian government. 

The US is trying to build this narrative under the pretext of keeping Daesh from reclaiming the oil deposits, since they held them once. The problem is that the Takfiri terrorist group is already on the run and barely exists. In addition, keeping Syria’s oil away from Syria is a potential problem under international law and the Charter of United Nations - no matter the US gives some of the money to the Kurdish SDF to support its military mission there or not.  

This is while the oil theft business has shamelessly been going on for years, with no backlash from the international community. Indeed, the new oil scheme without Syria’s consent is not the first of the Pentagon campaign to ensure the illicit trade will go on as usual. It’s part of a planned provocation to escalate the conflict. On the other side of the country, the same provocation plan entails support for occupation and providing sanctuary for Daesh's rival Salafi and Takfiri terrorist groups including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra or the Al-Nusra Front who are foot soldiers in America’s resource war against Syria.  

What’s more, the US needs Northern Syria for its international commodity dealers, oil autocrats and the rest of the official Washington crew, all belonging to “the indispensable nation,” who fund Pentagon and soaring national security state budgets through their purchase of black-market oil. Lest we forget, Russia just recently revealed aerial surveillance and satellite imagery showing oil-tanker trucks stretching from US-controlled territory into the Mediterranean and beyond. 

Together, they have been smuggling Syrian oil to other countries under the protection of US occupation troops before and after the defeat of Daesh. According to Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, “Oil was actively extracted and massively exported for processing outside Syria, under the protection of US occupation troops, before and after the defeat of Daesh.” 

In our grim world, consider it an irony that tank trucks guarded by US military servicemen and private military companies are still smuggling oil from the illegally occupied fields in Syria to other countries. These are the same reserves that should be used for reconstruction efforts, which may cost as much as 200 billion US dollars, including support for the rightful owners of the oil - civilians, internally displaced persons, and refugees. 

Significantly, the plot thickens when we realize the Syrian oil is extracted with the use of the equipment supplied by certain Western corporations. Given that the cost of one barrel of oil smuggled from Syria is reportedly 38 US dollars or more, the monthly revenue of this illegal business exceeds 30 million US dollars. No wonder US President Donald Trump claims some American troops will remain in Syria to supposedly secure oil fields from falling again into the hands of Daesh and the group profiting from them. 

Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has helped him turn the tide of a foreign-sponsored war, has long insisted that the US military presence in Syria is illegal. Moscow has further bolstered its position in Syria following the US withdrawal from the northeast of the country, negotiating a deal recently with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that allows Turkey to remove the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, militia from within a 30-kilometer strip along the Syrian-Turkish border.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement "From our side, the necessity was emphasized of refraining from steps undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria."

Based on the mounting evidence gathered by Russia, the amount of oil being smuggled is extremely high, is worth hundreds of millions of US dollars, and has increased over time. The US State Department admits it is still business as usual, which proves the Trump administration is well aware of the dealings and does nothing about it - trading their integrity instead. 

The major architects of the Syrian tragedy should take note. Their dream of having the Arab state under their belts is down in flames. They should stop fooling themselves with new geopolitical-financial motivations. By any possible interpretation of international law, if there’s any side of the war the international community should be joining, it’s not with the US and its oil autocrats. It’s with Russia, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. 

In the midst of such an embarrassing story, unless something is done properly, Washington’s black-market oil trade will destroy any hope left for peace and democracy in Syria. From Iran, Russia and Turkey to Europe, every government actively involved in the Syrian peace process bears responsibility for stopping this illegal scheme. It is their responsibility to stop Washington and its oil autocrats on their tracks. 

It is also their responsibility to step up the international campaign to settle the Syrian refugee question, and back restoration of Syria’s territorial integrity. In the era of Washington’s non-stop military intervention, if they ditch their responsibilities, or worse, steer away from the UN Charter and international law, it will become even more difficult to find a comprehensive, constitutional solution for the Syria tragedy. 

The Syrian Constitutional Committee finally launched on October 30 in Geneva as its delegates attempt to fulfill the complex task of carrying out UNSC Resolution 2254's mandated constitutional reform that was adopted on December 18, 2015.

The intervening four years saw the military aspect of this terrible war coming to a close and the rise of the political peace process, which was largely enabled by the Syrian Arab Army liberating the country's vast majority with assistance of its Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah anti-terrorism allies.

The national liberation process was a lengthy one that occasionally experienced its fair share of setbacks, but the overall trajectory of progress towards peace continued, which brings everything to the present moment, where 150 members of Syrian society are now gathering to discuss the way forward for their war-torn country. It was already difficult enough to assemble everyone in the first place, but now an even greater challenge awaits.

One of the reasons why the conflict has dragged on for so long is that each side wanted to achieve its goals in full. For Damascus, this entailed the restoration of state control over the entirety of its internationally recognized territory and a return to the pre-war political status quo, while the armed militants wanted to carry out regime change against the democratically elected and legitimate authorities with the enormous assistance of their foreign patrons and demanded that the post-war state of affairs in their country be entirely changed in order to make the state unrecognizable after the conflict finally ends.

It's too early to say exactly what the outcome of each compromise will be, but an educated guess suggests that some of the recommendations contained in the Russian-written draft constitution unveiled in January 2017 during the first meeting of the Astana Peace Process “might” be implemented.

Some of the main issues that will have to inevitably be addressed are the right of President Bashar al-Assad to stand for reelection, the relationship between the country's executive and legislative branches, the possibility of a bicameral parliament, whether or not the currently unitary state should decentralize or even federalize, and the political status of the Northern parts of the country still under the foreign occupation of the Turkish and American militaries which is directly related to the previously mentioned point about the future of the unitary state.

However these issues are resolved, they must be decided solely by the 150 Syrians that comprise the Constitutional Committee without any foreign interference whatsoever. 

The Astana guarantor countries of Russia, Turkey, and Iran, as well as the UN, have pledged to do their utmost to ensure that this is the case, though the continued illegal presence of the American military in Northeastern Syria (especially around its oil fields) might make this impossible in practice since Washington's shadow still hangs heavy over the entire process.

The way forward is for all the Syrian representatives to put any foreign loyalties aside and unite as a patriotic whole that's dedicated to making the tough compromises to finally bring peace to their millennia-old civilization-state. 

The Syrian Constitutional Committee is a promising step towards peace and keeping the country as a unitary state in spite of the still-formidable challenges ahead. This is because its very formation proves that there's still the political will on all sides to finally end the war in the interest of the nation. But this may come true only when Idlib is taken back from the terrorists and occupying forces leave this war-torn country very soon.