Defending human rights in Syria, US-style

The toll in the earthquakes that struck Turkiye and Syria exceeded 11,000 by Wednesday and the figure continues to rise as rescue workers are still finding more bodies.

The United States Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said that they would provide humanitarian assistance via "NGO partners" instead of the government in Syria, although they recognize it. They do not plan to suspend, let alone cancel, their decade-old sanctions against this disaster-stricken nation.

The sanctions forbid US entities from having business relations with Syria, thus depriving it of development opportunities and limiting its technological advancement and economic development.

Whatever they might claim, the US never imposes sanctions to "defend human rights", but to violate them. According to the Syrian Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, of the 80,300 barrels of crude oil they produced every day in the first half of 2022, about 66,000 barrels, or 83 percent, were stolen by the US military and resold to northern Iraq illegally.

Worse, reportedly, the US military even steals food from the Syrian people. In June 2022, 40 US military trucks pillaged wheat, when over 12 million people in Syria are starving and two-thirds of the population needs humanitarian assistance to just stay alive.

The US forces that arrived in the garb of fighting terrorism have long become terrorists themselves. They earn $35-45 million every month by stealing crude oil alone, and possibly more from pillaging wheat, while the local Syrian people starve.

After major disasters, there are always humanitarian crises that people should try their best to prevent. If the US insists on continuing with sanctions against Syria, the richest nation should at least stop stealing crude oil and pillaging its wheat, so that the locals can at least survive.

There is no hiding the fact that the US makes political gains over Syrian people's lives. The world is watching.