According to field sources, al-Misri Abu Ubaidah, Prince of the Zakat Chamber of the city of al-Mayadin (east of Deir-ez-Zor), has escaped after collecting the zakat (income and wealth tax) from the city’s residents. The estimated stolen sum, around 1 billion SYP (USD 5.3 million), was intended to reach the poor of the province.
The sources said that Abu Ubaidah, who holds Egyptian citizenship, managed to escape after collecting the zakat forcibly imposed on the people of the city.
According to al-Ittihad Press, recent cases of escape among ISIS figures is attributed to several factors, most notably the intensification of air strikes carried out by the international coalition, the progress of the Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish fighters in Kobani, in addition to the death of hundreds of ISIS fighters.
Abu Ubaidah was not the first ISIS leader to escape, as an Islamic State judge of Saudi citizenship fled ISIS-controlled areas months ago.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
