Yesterday, the international coalition forces, backed by groups of The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), killed a senior Daesh leader, Abu al-Ward, after carrying out an air landing in the badiyah of Deir Ezzor east of the Euphrates, so who is “Abu al-Ward”? After the killing of the group’s most prominent leader, Deir Ezzor 24 network investigated about Abu al-Ward and managed to get the following information: Abu al-Ward is one of the most prominent leaders of Daesh who remained in Deir Ezzor, an Iraqi national who served as an Emir of al-Rikaz (ore) office, when the group was in control of large areas of Syria and Iraq. He had a close relationship with the organization’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He was imprisoned in late 2017 after a dispute between him and two security emirs in Deir Ezzor, but Al-Baghdadi himself intervened to get him out, and appointed him as an emir of the badiyah. After the withdrawal of the organisation from Deir Ezzor, “Abu al-Ward” remained in the badiyah to be the first leader in Deir Ezzor, where he was active in recruiting cells for the organization, by directly supporting the “leaders” of the cells, in addition to financing operations in Deir Ezzor countryside (east of the Euphrates), and carrying out occasional campaigns to collect Zakat in the name of organization. Abu al-Ward also played a big role in executing those whom he called as al-Gholat (the extremists) in Deir Ezzor, who wanted to defect from Al-Baghdadi in late 2017. After more than two years of his activities in the badiyah of Deir Ezzor, during which he was involved in many assassinations and bombings in various areas of Deir Ezzor countryside (east of the Euphrates), Abu al-Ward was killed in a security operation by the international coalition, to join Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other leaders of the organisation.

Local sources told Deir Ezzor 24 network that sugar and tea have disappeared from the markets of Deir Ezzor for more than three days.

A person from the city who preferred to remain unnamed said that the reason behind the disappearance of sugar and tea in Deir Ezzor is because the wholesalers and senior officials of Assad have monopolized the two commodities, following the Assad regime’s decision to distribute sugar, tea and some other items through the (smart card), starting from the beginning of the next month, which opened the door for these traders to control and raise the prices of tea and sugar as they like.

This shortage coincided with a real crisis in the markets of Deir Ezzor, because of the rising U.S dollar against the Syrian pound, where last Saturday, January 18, 2020, the exchange rate reached 1260 Syrian pounds per dollar, which led to astronomical rise in all prices.