Missiles hit US base in northeast Syria after report of oil 'theft' plan

Multiple missiles have struck a US-occupied military base in Syria’s northeast where Washington seeks to control and loot crude resources in the war-torn Arab country.

The  base came under fire by a barrage of missiles in al-Shaddadi of northeastern Syrian province of al-Hasakah, Syria's al-Watan newspaper reported on Thursday.

There has been no immediate report of casualties or any claim of responsibility for the attack. 

US military vehicles transporting American troops and their bases have been attacked several times over the past few years across the troubled region.  

In recent months, the US military has reportedly sent a new convoy of trucks carrying military and logistical equipment to Hasakah.

The military buildup is reportedly part of Washington’s cutthroat rivalry with some of its regional allies to maintain control over oil reserves in Syria and plunder its natural resources.

Since late October 2019, the United States has been redeploying troops to the oil fields controlled by its Kurdish mercenaries in eastern Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops there.

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The Pentagon has said the US wants to “protect” the fields and facilities from possible attacks by the Daesh terrorist group. Trump has said that despite a military pullback from northeast Syria, American forces would remain "where they have oil”. 

Syria, which has not authorized the presence of the US military in its territory, says Washington is “plundering” its oil.

The presence of US forces in eastern Syria has particularly irked civilians, and local residents have on several occasions stopped American military convoys entering the region.  

Unidentified assailants attack US military vehicle in Syria’s Hasakah: Report

The assault on the Kharafi road destroyed the vehicle and injured the American troops.

The United States has long been supplying the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with arms and training, calling the Kurdish militant group a key partner.

Many observers see the support in the context of Washington's scheme to carve out a foothold in Syria.

The support has especially infuriated Washington's NATO ally, Turkey, which views militants from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) – the backbone of the SDF – as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been engaged in a destructive war inside Turkey for decades.

Turkey earlier this week denounced a deal recently signed between the SDF and an American company aimed at stealing oil in northeastern Syria, describing it as equivalent to "financing of terrorism".

The Turkish foreign ministry accused the US of advancing the SDF’s “separatist agenda by confiscating, with this step, Syrian people’s natural resources.”

Turkey says oil deal between SDF, US firm amounts to ‘financing of terrorism’

“Syria’s natural resources belong to Syrian people,” the Turkish statement said.

Damascus says the deal is an affront to its national sovereignty and amounts to “theft.” The Syrian foreign ministry has also slammed Washington for hindering the country's efforts to rebuild what has been destroyed by the foreign-led terrorism, which is “mostly backed by the US administration itself.”

US oil deal with SDF militants akin to piracy: Analyst

Commenting on the deal, Dean Henderson, an author and geopolitical analyst from Missouri, said that the deal between an American firm and Kurdish militants to develop and export the Arab country’s crude was akin to piracy.

“This deal is akin to a pirate stealing a ship then hiring a contractor to ‘modernize’ it. This oil belongs to the Syrian people and not to an American multinational and their CIA-backed henchman,” Henderson told Iran's Tasnim news agency in an interview on Wednesday

"Foreign policy by theft has been a pillar of US 'diplomacy' since the Monroe Doctrine and can be traced back to the Crusades of the Holy Roman Empire and even the imperatives of the pharaohs.

"'Might is right' has unfortunately been the modus operandi on this earth for thousands of years. The international organizations are beholden to these powerful interests, so the best Syria can do is to continue to drive the neocolonialists from their land by force."

Damascus condemns

Damascus strongly lambastes as null an agreement between a US oil company and the SDF militant group for stealing the Syrian oil.

On July 30 and during his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hardline US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed for the first time that an American oil company would begin work in the SDF-controlled northeastern Syria.

Syria has been gripped by unrest since 2011, when militancy first began in the country. Foreign states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad have since been funding and providing weapons to militants, among them thousands of paid foreign terrorists.

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