A U.S. senator and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had referred to an oilfields deal between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and a U.S. firm during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said during the committee hearing that SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi informed him that a deal had been signed with an American company to “modernize the oil fields in northeastern Syria”, and asked Pompeo whether the administration was supportive of it.

“We are,” Pompeo responded during the hearing streamed live by PBS. “The deal took a little longer … than we had hoped, and now we’re in implementation.”

“The deal took a little longer than we expected and we are now in the process of implementing it,” Mike Pompeo told PBS.

Syria’s foreign ministry said that an American oil company had signed an agreement with Kurdish-led rebels who control northeastern oilfields in what it described as an illegal deal aimed at “stealing” Syria’s crude.”

Damascus “condemns in the strongest terms the agreement signed between al-Qasd militia (SDF) and an American oil company to steal Syria’s oil under the sponsorship and support of the American administration”, the Syrian statement said. “This agreement is null and void and has no legal basis.”

It is worth noting that Syria is not the only country that is dissatisfied with the illegal presence of US-led coalition forces on its territory under the control of President Bashar al-Assad.

The deal prompted Washington’s allies in NATO to raise questions with the United States. For example, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that Syria’s natural resources and assets belong to the Syrian people. It also accused the United States of violating international law and the territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic. According to Ankara, these actions of the US government are tantamount to financing terrorism.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Abu al-Alaa, leader of the Nasserite Arab Democratic Party in Egypt, told the Syrian News Agency (SANA) that the chaos that the United States has caused against Syria is a crime against humanity. The politician was convinced that Washington had committed crimes against Syria and other countries with independent sovereignty in order to impose its domination on everyone. The political leader condemned the illegal agreement, which he said is aimed at looting Syria’s natural resources by Western countries and violating all international laws.

Through their actions, US officials show that their goal is to prolong the process of armed conflict and destabilization of the situation in Syria. As the legitimate Syrian government moves to liberate the country from armed groups in northeastern Syria, the US military is expanding its sphere of intervention.

In this way, the American political leadership is taking advantage of the temporary weakness of the Syrian people to plunder its natural resources.

In addition, once again, the possibility of deceiving Kurdish allies is very high. In recent years, the United States has used the Kurds as a tool to advance its interests in negotiations with the legitimate government in Damascus, but during the Turkish military operation in northern Syria, the Trump administration decided to withdraw its units from the conflict zone. At the time, the Syrian Democratic Forces expected the support of their backers against the Turkish Armed Forces and its allies, but in reality, the Americans left them alone to find a solution on their own.

This reflects the fact that US forces are primarily seeking new sources of illicit wealth, not rescuing civilians and resolving the situation in Syria.