Damascus, January 30 (RHC)-- U.S. occupation forces in Syria have begun to build a new military base in al-Yaroubia area in Hasaka, deploying logistic materials and military equipment there, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).  Citing local sources, the news agency said 10 military troop carriers were brought to al-Malikiyah city in northeast of Hasaka to be moved to al-Yaroubia area near the Iraqi border.

The United States claims its forces are there to “fight terrorism,” but Syria says Washington is plundering its oil.  Since late October 2019, the United States has been redeploying troops to the oilfields controlled by Kurdish forces in eastern Syria, in a reversal of former President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the country.  Trump even went so far as to say that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oilfields inside Syria.

On July 30, 2020, and during his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed for the first time that an American oil company would begin work in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-controlled northeastern Syria.

The practice of seizing or taking advantage of oil resources in a foreign country, without the consent of the sovereign authority, amounts to a violation of international law.

A U.S.-led military coalition has been bombarding what it claimed was positions of the Daesh terrorist group inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.  The strikes have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.