Syria

U.S. Has ‘No Right' to Syrian Oil, Adviser to President Assad Says

Bouthaina Shaaban was referring to President Donald Trump’s declaration earlier this year that the U.S. would “keep” Syrian oil

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

A top adviser to Syria’s president says the United States has no right to Syria’s oil and has warned of “operations” against American troops guarding the oil fields, NBC News reports.

Bouthaina Shaaban, who is a political and media adviser to Bashar al-Assad, recently told NBC News that the U.S. has “absolutely no right; it is our oil.”

“He’s talking about stealing it,” she added in her office at Syria's presidential palace in Damascus, referring to President Donald Trump’s declaration earlier this year that the U.S. would “keep” Syrian oil.

In October, the Trump administration announced plans to withdraw some 1,000 troops from Syria, amounting to most of the U.S. military presence in the country. But he later reversed course, approving an expanded military mission to secure an expanse of oil fields across eastern Syria.

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