Mask-clad U.S. soldiers on patrol near an oil production facility near al-Malikiyah in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah. (Photo: AFP)

Damascus, October 28 (RHC)-- The U.S. military has reportedly used dozens of tanker trucks to smuggle crude oil from Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah to western Iraq.  Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources, reported that a convoy of 37 tankers left Syria through al-Walid border crossing near al-Ya'rubiyah town on Tuesday evening, and headed towards Iraqi territories.

The sources added that several armored vehicles belonging to the US military and militants affiliated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) escorted the convoy until it arrived at the border crossing.

The looting of Syrian oil by the U.S. was first confirmed during a Senate hearing exchange between South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in late July.  During his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 30, Pompeo confirmed for the first time that an American oil company would begin work in the northeastern Syria, which is controlled by SDF militants.

The SDF, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish militants operating against Damascus, currently controls areas in northern and eastern Syria.  The Syrian government has denounced in the strongest terms the agreement inked to plunder the country’s natural resources, including Syrian oil and gas, with the sponsorship of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The U.S. president has more than once acknowledged that American military forces are in Syria for the country's oil.  Experts say such actions are against international law and equivalent to war crimes.