US forces have occupied sovereign territory in Syria since 2014, preventing Damascus from accessing the country’s oil and wheat fields.
A senior Pentagon official acknowledged that Washington’s strategy is to: Revenue needed to rebuild Syria’s central government will run outafter a decade of war instigated by foreign powers devastated the country.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump boasted in 2020, “They say, ‘He left troops in Syria.'” you know what i did? I left the army to steal the oil. I took the oil. My troops only steal oil. They are protecting the oil. I took over the oil. ”
The US has at least 900 troops in Syria. Syria’s internationally recognized government has repeatedly asked them to leave, meaning the US military presence is illegal according to international law.
US Senate votes 13-84 against withdrawing troops from Syria
This issue has come up in Congress several times in recent years.
upon December 7th, The Senate voted 13-84.rejected the resolution to withdraw US troops.
In the joint resolution, SJRes.51“Directly[ed] Withdrawing U.S. forces from hostilities in Syria that are not authorized by Congress. ”
Of the 100 senators, who are almost evenly divided between the two parties, seven Democrats, one left-leaning independent (Bernie Sanders) who caucuses with Democrats, and five Republicans proposed the resolution. Voted in favor of.
The senators who voted to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria are:
Democratic Party (7)
- Dick Durbin (Illinois)
- Ed Markey (Massachusetts)
- Jeff Merkley (Oregon)
- Chris Murphy (Connecticut)
- Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts)
- Peter Welch (Vermont)
- Ron Wyden (Oregon)
independent (1)
Republican Party (5)
- Mike Brown (Indiana)
- Mike Lee (Utah)
- Rand Paul (Kentucky)
- Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
- J.D. Vance (Ohio State)
US Senate to vote on whether to withdraw troops from Syria on December 7, 2023
The resolution was introduced by Rand Paul, a liberal-leaning Republican senator from Kentucky.
The proposed bill noted that U.S. forces have been operating in Syria since September 22, 2014.
The resolution reveals that since 2016, U.S. forces in Syria have attacked the Syrian government and its allies, including Iranian and Russian fighters, at least 11 times.
The administrations of President Donald Trump and Joe Biden have launched repeated airstrikes against government and allied forces in Syria.
US occupies Syrian oil fields
In March 2023, a senior United Nations official, Farhan Haq, caused controversy when he falsely claimed that there were no U.S. forces in Syria. (Chinese reporter Edward Xu corrected Huk’s lies while criticizing the UN’s hypocrisy regarding Ukraine.)
UN lies about US occupation of Syria, reporter criticizes Ukraine’s hypocrisy
American corporate media used to be pretty open about this fact.
Going back to 2018, Neocon and Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin “In Syria, we have ‘taken the oil,'” he boasted. He emphasized that “the United States and its partners control nearly all of the country’s oil.”
At the time, President Trump said he wanted to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, but Rogin complained that “if the U.S. withdraws, the oil is likely to end up in the hands of Iran.”
President Trump listened to hawkish critics like Rosin and decided to withdraw, instead withdrawing U.S. troops, who remain there today.
“U.S. forces in northeast Syria have a relatively new mission,” NPR reported in 2020. Securing oil fields Not only from ISIS, but also from the Syrian government and the Russian military. ”
Trump sat down. Interview with FOX News host Laura Ingraham In that same year. The US President explained:
playing cards: They say, “He left an army in Syria.” you know what i did? I left the army to get the oil. I took the oil. My troops only steal oil. They are protecting the oil. I took over the oil.
ingraham: We are taking, we are not taking –
playing cards: Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.
ingraham: They’re protecting their facility.
playing cards: I don’t know, but you should probably take it. But we have oil. Currently, the United States has oil. So they say, “He left an army in Syria.” No, we got rid of everything except to protect the oil. There is oil.
In 2019, Dana Stroll, a neoconservative US government official overseeing Syria policy, boasted that “one-third of Syria’s territory is owned through the US military, along with our local partner the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).”
The Kurdish-majority SDF acts as a proxy for the United States, using oil revenues to fund separatist activities and destabilizing Syria’s central government.
as Ben Norton, editor of the Geopolitical and Economic Report, wrote at the time:Stroll said that this Syrian land “owned” by Washington is “rich in resources” and that it is “an economic powerhouse in Syria, where are the hydrocarbons…an agricultural powerhouse” with many wheat fields. He emphasized that it is composed of
When Biden took office in 2021, his administration made the following appointments: Stroll appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Affairsthe head of the Department of Defense who plans the United States’ West Asia policy.
Neocon Dana Stroll, the Pentagon’s top Middle East policy official, acknowledged that Biden is maintaining troops to illegally occupy sovereign Syrian territory.
Stroll once boasted that the US military “owns” a third of Syria, including the oil-rich “economic powerhouse”.pic.twitter.com/NIEJ9elxhs https://t.co/01kZ22dhJ4
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) August 15, 2021
The US continues to occupy Iraq militarily.
The United States is approx. 40,000 troops stationed in West Asia (commonly known as the Middle East), as of October 2023.
In addition to the 900 in Syria, the US also has 2,500 troops in Iraq, a presence there that also violates the country’s sovereignty and international law.
U.S. troops and military contractors have been targeted by Iranian-backed militias since Hamas attacked Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The attack could reverse recent efforts to reduce the United States’ presence in the Middle East. https://t.co/a7nOI8fOmL pic.twitter.com/rEMyumnOa9
— Axios (@axios) October 31, 2023
On January 3, 2020, US President Trump ordered a drone strike that assassinated Iran’s top commander, Qasem Soleimani, and Iraq’s top commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
In response to President Trump’s blatant acts of war against the country, Iraq’s democratically elected parliament passed the following resolution in January 2020: expel US troops occupying the country.
President Trump ignored the vote in Iraq’s parliament and instead threatened to impose sanctions on Baghdad.
Democrat Biden has continued the policies of his Republican predecessor, extending the military occupation of both Iraq and Syria and seriously violating national sovereignty.
NEW: Since yesterday’s airstrikes, US forces have been attacked four times by Iranian proxy forces, three last night and one this morning, all in Syria. No injuries or damage to the base were reported. This brings to 52 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October 17. pic.twitter.com/zDJ7Z8VapK
— Liz Frieden (@Liz_Friden) November 13, 2023
The Gaza war that broke out in October has spread to other countries in the region.
In addition to indiscriminately killing Palestinian civilians, including thousands of children, in one of the bloodiest bombing campaigns in history, Israel attacked Lebanon and even bombed infrastructure in Syria. Damascus and Aleppo airports.
This prompted resistance forces in Syria and Iraq to launch attacks on U.S. forces illegally occupying their countries. The Biden administration responded with airstrikes against these fighters.
According to the Pentagon, U.S. forces in the region were attacked at least 52 times between October 17 and November 13.
