Bombardment by the Coalition of Syrian oil infrastructure

On instructions from my Government, I write further to my previous letters informing you of acts of aggression carried out by the so-called international coalition led by the United States of America against the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, its oil and gas facilities and its economic infrastructure. I wish to inform you that the coalition has once again deliberately attacked the service infrastructure by bombarding the following facilities:

• The Tanak oil field and its facilities in Dayr al-Zawr governorate, on 13 August 2016;

• The surroundings of the Jafra oil wells in Dayr al-Zawr governorate, on 31 August;

• The surroundings of the Jafra oil wells in Dayr al-Zawr governorate, on 14 September;

• The Jaziyah and Umar oil wells in in Dayr al-Zawr governorate, on 26 September.

The repeated bombardments have caused extensive material damage and have almost completely destroyed some of those facilities. The so-called international coalition’s attacks on the infrastructure of the Syrian Arab Republic have caused considerable damage to Syrian oil and gas facilities, particularly in the governorates of Dayr al-Zawr, Hasakah and Raqqah.

The so-called coalition air force bombardments of economic facilities and infrastructure, along with the unilateral coercive economic measures which certain States have imposed on the Syrian people, have exacerbated the difficult situation in which the country finds itself.

In view of those repeated and deliberate attacks on its oil facilities and its economy, the Syrian Arab Republic reserves the right to demand that the States participating in the American coalition pay compensation to Syria for the damage caused. Such compensation is a right enshrined in international law. The Syrian Arab Republic calls on those States to bring an immediate end to such practices, which are destroying the resources of the Syrian people, prolonging the crisis and delaying the country’s recovery.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the Security Council.