Damascus Believes Complaining To UN About US Oil Grab To Do No Good - Assad

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published November 15, 2019 | 01:12 PM

Damascus will lodge a complaint with the United Nations on Washington's plans to control Syrian oil but does not believe that it will bring any results, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Sputnik and Rossiya 24 broadcaster

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) Damascus will lodge a complaint with the United Nations on Washington's plans to control Syrian oil but does not believe that it will bring any results, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Sputnik and Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

The US Department of Defense said last week that keeping oil from falling into the hands of terrorist groups was part of the US mission in Syria. At the same time, when asked if US troops would shoot if approached by Syrian or Russian forces, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said they had the right to self-defense "when faced with a hostile act or demonstrated hostile intent." According to the spokesman, the US military has legal authority to control oil in Syria based on the order of the US president.

"Of course, this is to be expected," Assad said, when asked if Damascus would file a complaint with the UN.

"However, you and I, and many others in the world know that there is no United Nations because there is no international law; and so, all complaints lodged at the United Nations remain in drawers," the Syrian president continued.

The White House announced in early October that US troops would withdraw from northern Syria, where they were supporting the mainly-Kurdish fighters. This decision paved the way for Turkey's operation targeting the Kurdish militia, which it believes to be linked to extremist groups, and the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia). However, the United States has since stressed it wants to retain control of oil fields in northern Syria. US President Donald Trump reiterated this as recently as Wednesday, stressing that the US would be bringing many of its troops home from Syria but "we are keeping the oil."