The United States is stealing natural resources from Syria and imposing illegitimate sanctions, Syria's Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in an interview aired late on Monday.

U.S. forces, aided by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, continue to steal Syrian oil, wheat and cotton, Mekdad told national TV.

He said the SDF, with the assistance of the Americans, is holding 60,000 people in the al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria and was stealing aid sent to the refugees.

Meanwhile, Mekdad denounced U.S. sanctions against Syria as "illegitimate" and said they were aimed at destabilizing the country.

In an interview with CGTN on September 25, Mekdad explained how economic sanctions have worsened the war-torn country's humanitarian conditions.

Because of the sanctions, Syria has been unable to process foreign currency to buy needed supplies, such as medicines, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

He said the refugee crisis is also a result of the sanctions, adding that refugees will face a survival crisis after returning to Syria, which indirectly leads to the unsolved refugee problem.

(With input from Xinhua)