Gunmen execute ISIS official in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor

ARA News

ERBIL – A group of gunmen has executed a leading member of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor city, local sources reported on Monday.

Abu Saleh al-Jazrawi, head of the ISIS-linked al-Hisba department in Deir ez-Zor, was found dead in the Buqrus district.

“Al-Jazrawi was abducted two days ago by anonymous gunmen. His dead body was found today in the main street of Buqrus district in eastern Deir ez-Zor,” local media activist Mujahid al-Shami told ARA News on Monday.

Al-Hisba is responsible for collecting taxes from residents in ISIS-held areas in Syria and Iraq. The taxation department of al-Hisba is deemed a vital institution run by ISIS to fund its operations.

“Al-Jazrawi had killed dozens of people who refused to pay taxes to ISIS. People of Deir ez-Zor were relieved for hearing the news of his death,” al-Shami said.

In the meantime, ISIS militants imposed a curfew and launched a campaign of arrests across Deir ez-Zor looking for al-Jazrawi’s murderers.

Gunmen Execute ISIS Emir

This comes just two weeks after anonymous gunmen killed an ISIS Emir in the province.

“An ISIS convoy, consisting of two cars and seven militants, was carrying an ISIS Emir (prince) in Deir ez-Zor, before being attacked by an anonymous group of gunmen,” a member of the “Deir ez-Zor Is Being Slaughtered Silently” campaign told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Five ISIS militants were killed in the attack, including the jihadi Emir, while two others were injured before the gunmen escaped the Ghassan Aboud square, where the incident took place in the evening of February 13. 

“The gunmen, who have crossed the ISIS security checkpoints and infiltrated into the city of Deir ez-Zor, are most likely members of the local Arab al-Sheitaat tribe,” the source reported.

Al-Sheitaat tribe has been exposed to mass executions at the hands of ISIS militants since the radical group took over large areas in Deir ez-Zor nearly one year and a half ago. More than 700 members of the tribe were killed for refusing the ISIS’s alleged Caliphate and they were buried in mass graves.

Reporting by: Sarbaz Yousef and Mir Yaqoub

Source: ARA News

Militants of the Islamic State. File photo