The US has had a military presence in the Middle East for years now. However, the fight against global terrorism is only a smokescreen, veiling what the US truly aims to achieve with its military presence in the region. What the Americans have always really been interested in is oil, and not only the profit they can make from selling it; oil can also be used to control politics in a regional military dictatorship.

There have been many articles published in the international media about Washington’s aggressive policy in Syria over the past few days, quoting the words of US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said that the US military will “protect the Syrian oil fields”, even without UN Security Council sanctions and against the will of the official Syrian Arab Republic’s authorities, from threats including the Syrian authorities, who are the true owners of Syria’s natural resources

Since occupying Syria in 2013, the US has been pumping out the bowels of the earth in Syria in violation of all international laws. Washington has been conducting this criminal business, protected by both US army soldiers and contracted backup from the Blackwater private military company (PMC), now known as Academi. These mercenaries work together with the US military to protect caravans of Syrian oil, as it is transported through Qamishli to the Syrian border with Iraq and then through the Tel Kocher border crossing. After that, the oil is sold as an Iraqi product. According to some reports, Washington recently increased the number of Blackwater PMC mercenaries notorious for bringing bloodshed to many parts of the world, on the territory of Syria’s oil-rich Deir ez-Zor Governorate (province) to 2500. Anyone can see that contracting private military companies has obvious benefits: the Pentagon’s statistics on lives lost in military operations are not upset, and the private companies earn millions of dollars from state contracts and share this profit with their patrons in Washington.

The Kurds had previously been heavily involved in this illegal oil trade, and received up to 75% of the illegal US oil business. However, after a meeting in April at a US military base in Ain Issa between representatives of the Pentagon and senior officials from the “Syrian Democratic Forces”, the Americans began keeping a larger chunk of the profits for themselves, only sharing them with the top members of the Kurdish elite in exchange for “loyalty” — a sum of 10 million dollars a month. Union Bank and Al Baraka Bank are involved in laundering this money through their branches in Iraq, and a couple of them just happen to be near the American military bases in al-Qayyarah and Kirkuk.

Against this background, it should be pointed that the territory controlled by the Kurds in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate is where the last members of the illegal terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (DAESH), who has not been finished off, came in dregs and recently swore allegiance to their new leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. However, the US did not take advantage of this great chance to have US military forces finish off the remnants of the jihadist gangs. This shows Washington’s clear lack of interest in finally achieving a full crushing defeat in their DAESH pet project, in which they have invested a lot of manpower and funds, and also shows that the US is not only prepared to use Kurdish fighters to protect the oil-rich areas they have taken control of in Syria; they are also prepared to use the remaining DAESH fighters. Moreover, Washington now has a great excuse to continue pretending to fight terrorism, and by continuing the war, the US can continue using its two projects in the Middle East — the Kurds and DAESH — to maintain its influence in the region.

Judging by the speeches American politicians have recently made, Washington is not even trying to hide the fact that their main goal in Syria is not to fight terrorism and reduce the intensity of the armed conflict — oil is what they want. The United States will not give up on its goal voluntarily.

Yet Syria is not the only country where oil continues to fuel tension and Washington’s military activity. A very similar situation can be seen in Libya. By organizing a coup and toppling Libya’s leader Gaddafi, the United States gained access to this country’s natural resources. After Gaddafi was assassinated, Libyan statehood essentially crumbled and civil war broke out in the country, which Washington has exploited. Hillary Clinton’s emails revealed through WikiLeaks clearly show that the main reason American troops were sent into Libya was to exploit the country’s large oil reserves.

Now this country is ruled by a duality of power. The Government of National Accord headed by Fayez al-Sarraj rules under the watchful eye of the United States. He is opposed by the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The United States will not allow the situation to stabilize, and happily continue to pump oil in the confusion that has been created, covering up their clandestine dealings with their tamed terrorists from the Government of National Accord. For instance, one of the ministers in the Government of National Accord, Fathi Bashagha, has close ties with radical Islamist groups, including the illegal terrorist groups DAESH, al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the RADA Special Deterrence Forces, whose members kidnap, abuse and unlawfully detain people. In 2006, his name appeared in a UN report in connection with the slave trade, murders, torture and kidnappings. The RADA band of rebel militias, which is part of the Ministry of Interior in the Government of National Accord, illegally kidnapped two Russian sociologists from the Russian Foundation for the Protection of National Values, who are being held in an unofficial prison at the Mitiga airport in Tripoli. In 2014, Fathi Bashagha directly participated in a terrorist operation called “Libyan Dawn”, which The Guardian described as an “Operation” of “Islamist-led militias”, noting that “jubilant, bearded, militias” were shown dancing on wrecked airliners, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and intended to destroy the airport. Bashagha also actively supported the Islamists from Misrata by assisting them with their attack on Libyan oil fields, carried out with the illegal terrorist militant group DAESH…

On November 14, Bashagha visited Washington after receiving an invitation from the US authorities. During the discussion with Fathi Bashagha on the situation in Libya, US officials must surely have raised the issue of how the militias took control of the Libyan oil fields, disguising their interest with the fight against terrorism as they did in Syria.

The US actively supports Libya’s Government of National Accord, despite its links with terrorists. Only 12 UN countries have recognized the Government of National Accord in Libya, which makes it illegitimate. The intensity of US activity in Libya is all down to the White House’s desire for oil. In 2011, Washington assisted radical Islamists in Libya and helped depose Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who refused to share Libyan resources with the United States.

At a glance, there is clear confirmation of Washington’s participation in the Libyan “oil business” which can be seen in the following article about a tanker that arrived in Odessa a few days ago with a giant cargo of crude oil from Libya. The delivery included a total of 81,282 tons of “black gold”. The oil was shipped directly from Zawiya port and oil terminal in Libya to Ukraine, and trade in “black gold” is carried out through the United States.

Needless to say, the activities the United States and its puppet gangs are engaging in are nothing short of brazenly plundering Syrian and Libyan resources, which account for a significant amount of the national wealth that belongs to these two countries.

Vladimir Platov, an expert on the Middle East, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.