SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
U.S. military armored vehicles and soldiers on patrol near an oil well in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on November 6, 2019. (Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)
Top Syrian Official Says US Has 'Absolutely No Right' to Occupy or Plunder Nation's Oil Fields
"He's talking about stealing it," Bouthaina Shaaban said of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has kept troops in Syria to guard that country's oil fields.
Dec 25, 2019
Citing U.S. President Donald Trump's openly stated plan to maintain a troop presence in Syria with the sole purpose of plundering the country's oil reserves, a top Syrian government official said America has "absolutely no right" to the nation's natural resources and warned of "popular opposition and operations" against foreign occupiers.
"It is our oil," Bouthaina Shaaban, a political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told NBC News in an interview Tuesday.
"He's talking about stealing it," Shaaban said of Trump. "Our land should be totally and completely liberated from foreign occupiers, whether they are terrorists, or the Turks, or the Americans."
In early October, Trump abruptly ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, paving the way for a deadly Turkish assault on Kurdish forces in the region. Later that same month, Trump announced that a contingent of U.S. troops would remain in Syria to "secure the oil"--a plan critics decried as a flagrant violation of international law and a war crime.
"The oil is, you know, so valuable," Trump said at the time. "It can help us, because we should be able to take some also. And what I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly...and spread out the wealth."
As Common Dreams reported last month, Pentagon officials have asserted the authority to shoot any Syrian government official who attempts to retake control of their nation's natural resources.
"Everyone in the region knows where American forces are," Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a November press briefing. "We're very clear with anyone in the region in working to deconflict where our forces are. If anyone--we work to ensure that... no one approaches or has--shows hostile intent to our forces, and if they do, our commanders maintain the right of self-defense."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Citing U.S. President Donald Trump's openly stated plan to maintain a troop presence in Syria with the sole purpose of plundering the country's oil reserves, a top Syrian government official said America has "absolutely no right" to the nation's natural resources and warned of "popular opposition and operations" against foreign occupiers.
"It is our oil," Bouthaina Shaaban, a political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told NBC News in an interview Tuesday.
"He's talking about stealing it," Shaaban said of Trump. "Our land should be totally and completely liberated from foreign occupiers, whether they are terrorists, or the Turks, or the Americans."
In early October, Trump abruptly ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, paving the way for a deadly Turkish assault on Kurdish forces in the region. Later that same month, Trump announced that a contingent of U.S. troops would remain in Syria to "secure the oil"--a plan critics decried as a flagrant violation of international law and a war crime.
"The oil is, you know, so valuable," Trump said at the time. "It can help us, because we should be able to take some also. And what I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly...and spread out the wealth."
As Common Dreams reported last month, Pentagon officials have asserted the authority to shoot any Syrian government official who attempts to retake control of their nation's natural resources.
"Everyone in the region knows where American forces are," Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a November press briefing. "We're very clear with anyone in the region in working to deconflict where our forces are. If anyone--we work to ensure that... no one approaches or has--shows hostile intent to our forces, and if they do, our commanders maintain the right of self-defense."
Citing U.S. President Donald Trump's openly stated plan to maintain a troop presence in Syria with the sole purpose of plundering the country's oil reserves, a top Syrian government official said America has "absolutely no right" to the nation's natural resources and warned of "popular opposition and operations" against foreign occupiers.
"It is our oil," Bouthaina Shaaban, a political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told NBC News in an interview Tuesday.
"He's talking about stealing it," Shaaban said of Trump. "Our land should be totally and completely liberated from foreign occupiers, whether they are terrorists, or the Turks, or the Americans."
In early October, Trump abruptly ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, paving the way for a deadly Turkish assault on Kurdish forces in the region. Later that same month, Trump announced that a contingent of U.S. troops would remain in Syria to "secure the oil"--a plan critics decried as a flagrant violation of international law and a war crime.
"The oil is, you know, so valuable," Trump said at the time. "It can help us, because we should be able to take some also. And what I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly...and spread out the wealth."
As Common Dreams reported last month, Pentagon officials have asserted the authority to shoot any Syrian government official who attempts to retake control of their nation's natural resources.
"Everyone in the region knows where American forces are," Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a November press briefing. "We're very clear with anyone in the region in working to deconflict where our forces are. If anyone--we work to ensure that... no one approaches or has--shows hostile intent to our forces, and if they do, our commanders maintain the right of self-defense."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.