Issam Zahreddine's death in the city of Deir Ezzor, where Russian-backed regime forces are battling the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group, was reported by pro-regime media in Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said he was killed Wednesday when an bomb went off in Deir Ezzor city, most of which is now under the control of regime forces.
With his handlebar mustache and bushy gray beard, the 56-year-old general was a recognizable figure in Syria and had a cult following among diehard supporters of the regime.
Involved in the early days of the repression of a 2011 revolt against the regime of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
, he led the battle that expelled rebels from Syria's third city of Homs five years ago.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. in 2016, Colvin's family alleged that her death was the result of shelling of the media center where she and Ochlik were, in a plan "formulated at the highest levels of the Syrian government."
"The plan was executed by Syrian military forces under the command of Major General Issam Zahreddine of the Syrian Elite Republican Guard," it alleged.
Zahreddine had recently commanded the 7,000 forces that were besieged by IS in Deir Ezzor until more government troops were sent in and broke the jihadists' stranglehold on the city.