US Helped Daesh in Attempt to Gain Control Over Syria's Oil - Damascus

The US is trying to establish control over Syrian oil fields, Syrian Deputy Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Shawa said, speaking at the Moscow Conference on International Security.

Mahmoud al-Shawa he said that the United States had "decided to invent various pretexts to justify keeping the illegal presence of their bases and troops on Syrian soil in order to establish control and domination over the oil fields in order to separate Syria." The deputy minister stressed that Washington was also assisting the Daesh* terrorist group for this purpose.

READ MORE:Daesh Seized Oil Field From US-Backed Forces in Eastern Syria — Reports

The US grossly violated humanitarian law during the conduct of military operations in Syria, Mahmoud al-Shawa said.

He noted that after the forces of Russia and Iran "contributed to the end of the war of attrition," the United States stepped up its presence in the northern part of Syria.

"This was accompanied by US-Israeli aggression, a gross violation of international humanitarian law in order to support terrorist groups," al-Shawa said at the conference.

The US-led coalition of more than 70 members is conducting military operations in Syria and Iraq. The coalition's strikes in Iraq are conducted in cooperation with Iraqi officials, but in Syria are not sanctioned by the Syrian government or the United Nations Security Council.

Russia has been supporting Syrian government forces in their fight against terrorism at the request of President Bashar Assad since 2015.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia