STORY: Syria could have better wheat harvest without obstruction from U.S., its allies, says official
DATELINE: June 21, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:37
LOCATION: Damascus
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the wheat harvest
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ABDUL LATIF AL-AMIN, Director general of the Syrian Grain Foundation
3. various of the wheat harvest
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): ABDUL LATIF AL-AMIN, Director general of the Syrian Grain Foundation
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ABDUL LATIF AL-AMIN, Director general of the Syrian Grain Foundation

STORYLINE:

A Syrian official said that Syria's wheat yield this year seems promising but could have been much better if the U.S. forces and their allied militias weren't present in agriculture-rich areas in northeastern Syria.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ABDUL LATIF AL-AMIN, Director general of the Syrian Grain Foundation
"This year we have indications that the wheat harvest is going to be better than last year and this is a sign that the Syrian government is taking care of and supporting the farmers and producers by securing all of the production requirements to have a good harvest and good quantity of wheat to secure the needs of the country."

Al-Amin said the crops could be much better if the northeastern province of al-Hasakah, a pivotal breadbasket of Syria, were well under the control of the government.

He said the presence of the U.S. forces and its allied Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in al-Hasakah is impeding the flow of the province's gain to the government.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): ABDUL LATIF AL-AMIN, Director general of the Syrian Grain Foundation
"The SDF is preventing the farmers to sell their crops to the government centers, and behind the SDF, the U.S. occupation forces have controlled the sites that contain the natural resources of the Syrian people which are the farmland and oil, and this is the height of criminality because Syria is an integral country. The people in al-Hasakah eat the olives of Idlib and the wheat of al-Hasakah feeds the coastal region, and the citrus fruits of the coastal region feeds the entire country. Syria is an integrated agricultural country and the U.S. conduct created a crack in the process of integration or self-sufficiency of agricultural production in Syria."

In addition to the presence of ground forces in resource-rich areas in Syria, al-Amin also spoke of the negative impact of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Syria.

He said the sanctions are affecting the production requirements and the imports of spare parts necessary to keep agricultural machinery running.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ABDUL LATIF AL-AMIN, Director general of the Syrian Grain Foundation
"Of course, there are the unfair measures and sanctions in what is called the "Caesar Act" which is known by everyone. This act has deprived Syria of many of the production requirements and the spare parts for industrial establishments like mills and silos, as well as raw materials that used to be imported from foreign countries. These unfair sanctions have damaged the Syrian national economy and are detrimental to Syrian establishments."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Damascus.
(XHTV)