"The right to life of the Syrian people is being ruthlessly violated by the US," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday in response to Syrian state news agency's report of US looting more of the country's oil, noting that the banditry is seriously exacerbating the energy crisis and humanitarian disaster in Syria.
US occupation forces in Syria continued plundering the country's wealth and resources as they brought out a convoy consisting of 53 tankers on Saturday loaded with oil they looted bound for a US base in northern Iraq via al-Mahmoudiya illegitimate crossing, Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Wang commented on Tuesday that the US illegal plundering of Syria has become blatantly obvious, quoting official data from the Syrian government that in the first half of 2022, more than 80 percent of Syria's daily oil production was illegally smuggled by US forces.
According to media reports, the US forces and their mercenaries are stealing an average of 66,000 barrels of oil per day in Syria as the country's average daily oil production is estimated to have reached 80,000 barrels in the first half of 2022.
The Syrian oil ministry said in August last year in a statement that the US practices in Syria including its unlawful trafficking of Syrian oil have caused direct and indirect losses of about $107.1 billion to Syria's oil and gas sectors.
Earlier this month, the US forces looted higher quantities of Syrian oil and wheat via 60 tankers, delivering it to their bases in Iraq via illegitimate maritime crossing.
In such miserable situation lacking oil and food, the US robbery could only make this winter even colder for the Syrian people, Wang said.
Greedy as the US is in stealing Syrian resources, it has been pretty "generous" in providing military aid to others, often in the billions or even tens of billions.
Whether the US is to "take" or "give," the results are all the same - to plunge other countries into turmoil and disaster, thereby preserving US interests and hegemony, the spokesperson said. This is the reality of the so-called rule-based order of the US, Wang added.
He urged the US to give the Syrian people and the international community an explanation for the oil theft, and to stop trampling on international suspicions and undermining international law.
The Syrian government has slammed the US' brazen robbery behavior repeatedly over an extended period. However, since the US retained a military presence in northeastern and eastern Syria since 2014, it has been transporting Syrian oil it stole to Iraq where they later sell it to Iraqi oil companies at a lower price and use the money to support the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and other opposition armed groups in Syria, experts noted.
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the upcoming start of ground strikes against drug cartel targets in Latin America.
He made the remarks during Christmas greetings to the military.
Trump said the United States was "now going after the land" in its fight against drug cartel targets, noting that drug trafficking by sea was down 96 percent.
The U.S. president also extended special congratulations to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, currently deployed in the Caribbean.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has begun operating the world's first intelligent ultra-large oil tanker powered by methanol, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.
The tanker, designed to transport crude oil, was successfully put into operation in the city of Dalian in China's northeastern coastal province of Liaoning, the report said. State-owned company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd independently designed and built the vessel, it added.
The tanker is approximately 333 meters (1,092 feet) long and can carry around 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, the CCTV reported. Designed to produce low emissions and having intelligent control capabilities, the tanker will serve the route to the Middle East, among others, according to the report.
The vessel is powered by a dual-fuel methanol engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92% compared to conventional fuel, the CCTV reported. It is equipped with an intelligent ship platform, an intelligent liquid cargo ...
A car bomb has killed a senior General Staff member, officials have confirmed
Source: The Investigative Committee
A Russian general has been killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, the Investigative Committee has reported.
Officials identified the victim as Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff. According to the statement, an explosive device had been planted beneath the vehicle he was traveling in, and detonated on Monday morning in the southern part of the Russian capital.
The blast also damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver, media reports stated.
Russian officials said one line of investigation is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services, noting that Kiev has previously used explosive devices in targeted killings of officials and public figures.
Last December, a bomb hidden in an e-scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense ...
