this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
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So this article is thin on details and lacking any mention of historical or political context. The only cited sources it has are "witnesses" (unidentified). It's pretty clearly designed to give the reader a simple impression lacking in nuance or understanding. And in fact, it is a copy of propaganda articles being pushed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as described in this article by Radio Free Asia. And here is the media bias rating for RFA.
This is a propaganda piece, and it's a poorly written one that doesn't even attempt to back up its claims with any other sources or explain the broader context of the conflict in Syria. The funny bit is, it's stale propaganda from 15 months ago, though it seems to have been updated with a new picture of a single truck on a road somewhere.
Edit: So this is the original source (provided by a commenter below): US occupation continues plundering Syrian resources, 22 Apr 2024. And here is the same article: US occupation continues plundering more Syrian resources dated 14 Jan 2023. This is pretty transparent, right? Do you think they have different authors that copy each others' homework, or is it just one guy using different names?
Adding to the general comic value, there are lots of pictures of trucks on unidentified roads in unspecified locations, but in spite of all the finger-pointing at the "US occupation forces" there isn't a single US soldier or vehicle pictured anywhere.
This is extremely lazy propaganda.
It looks like most outlets carrying this story are just re-reporting this one from SANA: https://sana.sy/en/?p=329527
And that seems a bit light on details. And the details it does have seem slanted, like painting the US presence as an occupation, a border crossing as an illegal settlement (I can't even find any other references to Mahmoudiya in Syria with a quick Google), and the photos just show pictures of random tanker trucks, nothing that would indicate location, direction, contents, or operator.
My sense is that the US is supporting a rebel faction in the Syrian civil war, and the ruling faction (Bashar al-Assad's) is trying to paint them as the bad guy, for something that may or may not be legitimate, and may or may not even be happening at all. There's not enough evidence here to draw any conclusions.
what definition of occupation does not include the deployment of the US military, which proceeded to build a dozen military bases in a territory of another country, which has continuously made filings to the UN about this occupation?