Damascus, Aug 3 (IANS): The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned a deal signed recently between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and a US oil company to modernize the oil industry in areas controlled by the U.S.-backed SDF in northeastern Syria, the state news agency SANA reported.

"This agreement is considered an integrated and aggravated theft and can only be described as a deal between thieves who are stealing and thieves who are buying, constituting an assault against Syria's sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The "null and void" deal is "a continuation of the US hostile approach toward Syria" by "stealing the resources of the Syrian people and hindering the efforts of the Syrian state to rebuild what has been destroyed by terrorism that is mostly backed by the US government itself," the ministry statement added.

Syria's oil and gas fields are largely concentrated on the northeastern part of the country, especially in the provinces of Hasakah and Deir al-Zour which are largely controlled by the Kurdish-led autonomous administration.