US soldiers have shot dead a 12-year-old child in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah amid growing discontent with the presence of foreign forces in the region.
Syria's official news agency, SANA, citing local sources, reported on Thursday that the incident took place close to a US-occupied base in the town of Shaddadi.
Muhaidi Hussein Falah came under deliberate fire of US soldiers while playing with a group of children in a neighborhood of the troubled region, the report added.
A US-led military coalition has been bombarding what it claims as Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.
US troops are also operating on the ground in eastern and northeastern Syria. While the US claims its troops in Syria are assisting the Kurdish-led militants of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their purported fight against Daesh, there is ample evidence which shows the US is there to loot Syria’s oil resources.
Last month, it was revealed that the US military had used dozens of tanker trucks to smuggle crude oil from Hasakah to western Iraq.
The looting of Syrian oil by the US was first confirmed during a Senate hearing exchange between South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in late July.
US President Donald Trump has more than once acknowledged that American military forces are in Syria for the country's oil.
In addition to that, security conditions are reportedly getting worse in SDF-controlled areas in Syria’s Raqqah, Hasakah and Dayr al-Zawr provinces.
Locals complain that SDF raids and arrest campaigns have generated a state of frustration and instability.
Residents accuse the US-sponsored militants of stealing crude oil and refusing to spend money on services.
Local councils affiliated with the SDF have also been accused of financial corruption.