China urges foreign troops to stop plundering of natural resources in Syria

A Chinese official to the UN has called for the full implementation of the Security Council’s resolution on the extension of Syria’s cross-border humanitarian assistance, stressing that the illegal stationing and military operations of foreign troops in Syria must end and the illegal plundering of natural resources in the country by foreign troops must stop immediately.

The UN Security Council held a briefing on the political and humanitarian situation in Syria on Wednesday. It adopted Resolution 2672 on January 9, allowing the delivery of UN cross-border aid into Syria to continue for a further six months.

Dai Bing, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, called on the international community to make greater efforts in the next six months to ensure that the resolution is fully and effectively implemented.

The cross-border mechanism of humanitarian deliveries is a temporary arrangement under special circumstances and ultimately there should be a gradual and orderly transition to cross-line deliveries, Dai noted.

China welcomes the UN’s updated plan for cross-line operations in northwestern Syria, and looks forward to seeing a more significant increase in the frequency of aid operations as well as the size of convoys, Dai said.

“Cross-line rescues for the Rukban refugee camp in southeastern Syria should be resumed as soon as possible,” said Dai.

Dai added that unilateral sanctions and the resulting over-compliance run counter to the efforts of the Security Council and the wider international community to improve humanitarian access and increase humanitarian resources in Syria.

“China once again calls on relevant countries to immediately and fully lift unilateral sanctions against Syria,” he said.

Dai pointed out that the current counter-terrorism situation in Syria is still complicated. The international community should adopt unified standards in accordance with international law and UN Security Council resolutions, strike at all terrorist forces in Syria with a zero-tolerance attitude and stop conniving, shielding and politically utilizing terrorist forces.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria must be effectively respected. The illegal stationing and military operations of foreign troops in Syria must end, and the illegal plundering of natural resources in Syria by foreign troops must stop immediately, Dai noted.

US military forces in Syria have been slammed for stealing oil shipments from the war-ravaged country. After entering Syria in 2014, the US forces, under the pretext of fighting terrorist groups, have established military bases in oil-rich areas in northeastern and eastern Syria and started the systematic theft of Syrian oil.

In mid-January, Syrian media reported that a convoy of 53 tankers was deployed to smuggle crude oil from Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah to bases in neighboring Iraq.

The Syrian Oil Ministry said in August 2022 that the US forces were stealing 80 percent of Syria’s oil production, causing direct and indirect losses of about $107.1 billion to the country’s oil and gas sectors.

Global Times