Damascus Accuses US Forces of Plundering Syrian Oil

American troops deployed in SDF-held regions in Syria. (AFP file photo)
American troops deployed in SDF-held regions in Syria. (AFP file photo)
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Damascus Accuses US Forces of Plundering Syrian Oil

American troops deployed in SDF-held regions in Syria. (AFP file photo)
American troops deployed in SDF-held regions in Syria. (AFP file photo)

Syria’s Foreign and Expatriates Ministry reiterated accusations against the United States that it was plundering Syrian oil and sending them to Iraq.

It condemned the practice as “piracy”, a “return to colonial practices” and violation of international law and United Nations conventions.

It called on the UN Security Council to condemn the practices and put an end to them.

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported on Friday that US forces had sent 50 tankers of stolen oil from Syria to US bases in northern Iraq.

They have increased the theft of Syrian oil over the past few weeks with the help of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said SANA.

The US forces stole 398 tankers of oil in one week in August and sent them to bases in Iraq.

The Syrian Oil Ministry said in a statement that the US is stealing an average of 66,000 barrels of oil per day, about 80 percent of the country’s oil production.

The Syrian war has cost its oil industry losses of $105 billion.

Syria is already suffering from a fuel and energy crisis that has led to a hike in prices and soaring inflation.

The crisis deepened after the US adopted the Caesar Act in summer 2020.

The Congress amended the Caesar Act, including imposing sanctions on any trade related to natural gas, electricity, and energy that supports the Syrian regime financially.

The sanctions have complicated the purchase of Syrian oil from the Syrian Democratic Forces, forcing the government in Damascus to continue to rely on Iranian oil.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”