US forces take over illegal oil trade in Syria from Daesh terrorists: Top Russian general

A high-ranking Russian military official says American military forces have taken over illegal oil trade in war-torn Syria from the extremists.

Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy, the chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said in a press briefing in Moscow on Monday that US private military companies, numbering over 3,500 personnel, are plundering Syrian oil facilities under the cover of the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

 “Aside from training militants, the US entities in Syria are involved in plundering oil facilities and deposits in the area across the Euphrates that belong to the legitimate Syrian government. Lately, US private military companies have been observed to actively beef up their personnel. Today, the mercenaries of the private military companies in Syria exceed 3,500 people,” Rudskoy said.

The senior Russian general further noted that US military companies are involved in the illegal production and sale of Syrian crude oil from al-Omar, Conoco and al-Tanak fields.

“A criminal scheme of Syrian crude cross-border deliveries is in effect. Actually, Syrian national wealth is being plundered,” Rudskoy stated.

“All this activity by US private military companies is conducted under the cover of the international anti-terror coalition. In actual fact, this is smuggling business seized by the Americans from Daesh,” the Russian general said.

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Rudskoy then accused the United States of providing various Arab and Kurdish militia groups in northern Syrian with different kinds of ammunition in exchange for assistance in the illegal trafficking of Syrian oil to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

Back in March 2018, Russia's Sputnik news agency reported that the United States had begun the construction of a large military base in Syria’s eastern and oil-rich Dayr al-Zawr province.

PressTV-‘Eying Syria’s oil, US builds military base’

The United States has begun the process of building a large military base in Syria’s oil-rich Dayr al-Zawr province, a report says.

"The US is building a large military base in the oil-rich al-Omar region of Dayr al-Zawr province. Due to security concerns we cannot provide information about the acreage of this new installation. There is currently construction machinery working in the vicinity of the base, and security is being provided by SDF forces," the press secretary of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces in Dayr al-Zawr said at the time.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes and operations against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a United Nations mandate. Damascus has repeatedly condemned the airstrikes.

PressTV-Civilians killed in US-led strikes in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr

A number of civilians were killed in US-led airstrikes on a village in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr province on Monday.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

In recent months, foreign-backed terrorists have been suffering heavy defeats in battles against Syrian government forces, backed by the Russian air force and Iranian military advisers.

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