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The "ISIS"-Turkey oil smuggling ruins Syrian economy, and Russia's actions are helping to stop the loss of the crucial resource, the Syrian electrical energy minister said.

Russian Aerospace Forces' airstrikes against trucks smuggling oil from Syria into Turkey by "ISIS", prohibited in numerous countries, had helped in revealing the volume of theft from Syria's natural resources, Syrian Electrical Energy Minister Imad Hamis told Sputnik.

"The Turkish government and groups associated with it have played a large role in the theft of Syrian oil. This is one of the key factors influencing [Syria's] oil and energy sectors.

Lately many oil cisterns and tanker trucks have been shown smuggling stolen Syrian oil into Turkey that the Russian Aerospace Forces have been striking. This has revealed the volume of oil that the Syrian government is losing that is needed to produce energy," Hamis said.

Russia has repeatedly stated that Turkey is the main procurer of illegal oil from Syria and Iraq, accusing President Erdogan and his family of direct involvement in the "ISI" oil business.

Accordingly, the Russian Defense Ministry unveiled satellite images showing "ISIS" transporting up to 200,000 barrels of oil in at least 1,722 trucks to third-party countries, most notably Turkey.

Source: Sputnik, Edited by website team