U.S. forces steal 50 tankers of Syrian oil in Hasakah province

DAMASCUS, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. forces on Friday sent 50 tankers of stolen oil from Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah toward U.S. bases in neighboring Iraq, state news agency SANA reported.

The oil tankers were sent to Iraq in batches through the illegal al-Mahmoudiyeh crossing, said SANA.

The state news agency said the U.S. forces have intensified its theft of Syrian oil over the past few weeks with the help of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

After entering Syria in 2014, the U.S. 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 stealing of Syrian oil.

The Syrian Oil Ministry said in August that the U.S. forces were stealing 80 percent of Syria's oil production, and the unlawful trafficking has so far caused direct and indirect losses of about 107.1 billion U.S. dollars to Syria's oil and gas sectors.