A U.S. soldier stands near a Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) during a patrol near the Rmelan oil wells in Syria's northeastern Hasakah Province on June 22, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

Damascus, August 9 (RHC)-- U.S. forces stationed in Syria have transported consignments of stolen oil to Iraq, using scores of tanker trucks.  According to official news agency SANA on Monday, the U.S. forces allowed a convoy of 80 vehicles, including tanker trucks carrying stolen Syrian oil, to cross the “illegitimate” al-Walid crossing into Iraq.

SANA cited local sources from Rmelan town in the northeastern province of Hasakah as saying that the convoy was accompanied by armored vehicles.  On Thursday, 25 U.S. tanker trucks carrying stolen oil also headed from Syria to Iraq.

The U.S.-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh has been conducting airstrikes and operations inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a United Nations mandate.  The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians.

In 2019, then U.S. President Donald Trump decided to keep hundreds of U.S. troops in Syria to "secure" the country's oilfields which Syrian troops have yet to retake from militants.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reiterated that U.S. attempts to control Syria’s oilfields were “illegal” and amounted to “robbery.”   Last year, Damascus strongly condemned an agreement signed between SDF Kurdish militants and an American oil company, declaring it null and void because it was aimed at stealing the country's oil.