DISINFO: Claiming to fight the already defeated Daesh, US military in Syria aims to plunder the country's natural resources
SUMMARY
The Biden administration is continuing previous US policy towards Syria aimed at plundering Syria’s natural resources and grain supplies. The alleged threat of a rebirth of DAESH, which was defeated in 2017, is used to justify US military presence in Syria. The US military, together with allied Syrian and Kurdish militias, have smuggled oil in hundreds of trucks and tankers. The US military and these militias have smuggled 38 convoys of grain and oil through the Al-Walid border crossing.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Syrian war aimed at discrediting US military operations in Syria to counter DAESH (ISIS or ISIL). This narrative is consistent with a recurring pro-Kremlin message claiming that US uses the fight against terrorism as an excuse to conduct military operations aimed at looting other countries’ natural resources.
Counterterrorism operations against DAESH have been the top priority of US policy in Syria since 2014.
The United States also has responded to Syria’s ongoing civil conflict by providing nonlethal assistance to Syrian opposition and civil society groups, encouraging diplomatic efforts to reach a political settlement to the civil war, stabilisation on the ground through activities such as the restoration of essential services like water, electricity, schools, health care, and the provision of humanitarian aid.
Although DAESH suffered a major defeat with the loss of the Caliphate’s capital in Raqqa in 2017, the local ramifications of DAESH in Syria and neighbouring Iraq pose a persistent and unpredictable threat.
According to a January 2021 report published by the UN Security Council on the threat posed by DAESH to international peace and security: “a terrorist threat may be incubating in displacement camps and detention facilities housing ISIL fighters, their family members and other individuals with a suspected or perceived affiliation with ISIL, especially in the north-east of the Syrian Arab Republic”.
Furthermore, there is no evidence to support the article’s claim that the US military is involved in oil and grain smuggling operations. The information about oil and grain smuggling by the US military was published by the SANA news agency quoting unidentified sources, without any other evidence to support the claims. Previously, the US had already been accused by pro-Kremlin outlets of smuggling oil from Syria. No evidence was provided to support these claims.
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