Spot the Difference: Russia Distributes Food Aid in Syria as US Ramps Up Looting

The destruction of Syria caused by the CIA-led dirty war, combined with the illegal US occupation and plunder of energy and food-rich areas of the country east of the Euphrates, have turned the republic from a net exporter to a net importer of foodstuffs and oil. Fortunately, Damascus’s Russian and Iranian friends have stepped in to assist.

Russian troops in Syria marked World Humanitarian Day 2023 by passing out tons of food assistance to Syrians in the village of al-Danair in the Tartous countryside, and the village of al-Watotiyeh in Qamishli.

The Tartous deliveries included about 2.5 tons in aid. In Qamishli, food packages for 300 families were handed out. Aziz Soumi, the head of al-Watotiyeh’s church committee, told local media that Russia’s support represents Moscow’s humanitarian role in supporting the Syrian people in their hour of need.

Distribution of #Russian humanitarian #aid in Tartous countrysidehttps://t.co/p1JUv9bwly pic.twitter.com/aAbzkB3wJh

— SANAEnglishOfficial (@SANAEnOfficial) August 19, 2023

The Russian military’s aid mission coincided with World Humanitarian Day, an annual United Nations holiday honoring humanitarian workers. The holiday, first marked in 2009, is dedicated to the 22 humanitarian aid workers killed in a bombing attack in Iraq on August 19, 2003, shortly after the US and UK-led invasion.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement Saturday on the occasion of the holiday, saying “the United States honors the humanitarian aid workers who continue to sacrifice so much to protect and assist the world’s most vulnerable populations.”

“Tragically,” Blinken said, “global humanitarian crises are growing. Conflict, political repression, economic insecurity, persecution, disasters and other crises have forced historic numbers of people – more than 110 million –to flee their homes.”

The US done its part to “growing” the humanitarian crisis in Syria, cutting Damascus off from its oil and food-rich northeastern territories, creating an occupation garrison, looting the country’s energy and food resources and setting up an aggressive sanctions regime known as the Caesar Act.

On Thursday, sources told local media that a convoy of 40 tankers loaded with Syrian oil was smuggled into Iraq. Such reports have been a staple in Syrian media for years now.

About 90 percent of Syria’s oil and gas resources and much of its richest food producing regions are under US occupation, with the country going from energy and food exporter before 2011 to import dependency for both in the wake of the CIA-led dirty war.

The Syrian government has estimated that its energy sector has suffered over $100 billion in damage since 2011, while the overall cost of the conflict has reached up to $1 trillion. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and millions becoming refugees abroad.

Amid Syria’s humanitarian crisis, Russia has stepped in to provide the country with millions of tons in food assistance, while Iranian oil tankers have risked the trek from the Persian Gulf to Syria’s Mediterranean coastline to offload emergency oil and gas cargoes despite harassment and sabotage by Israel.