ISIS aid enters Deir e-Zor

CONSTRUCTING A CALIPHATE: With the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) donates thousands of cooking-gas cylinders to the people of Deir e-Zor city, where ISIS is battling regime and rebel forces for control.

“The people until now do not recognize an Islamic state,” Jihan a-Ahmed, a resident in Deir e-Zor who lives under ISIS control, told Syria Direct, adding “a caliphate must be elected by the people, the people will not accept a caliphate that comes from outside of Syria.”

This picture, published Sunday by an ISIS-affiliated Twitter account, shows trucks transporting what gas canisters, reportedly to aid the population of Deir e-Zor. The caption in Arabic reads, “The arrival of a convoy of relief carrying 6,000 gas canisters from ISIS to the people of the City of Good (Deir e-Zor) for the month of Ramadan.”

ISIS often refers to the eastern state of Deir e-Zor and its eponymous capital as “good” or “bountiful” because of its oil-rich lands.

The city of Deir e-Zor is currently controlled by Jabhat a-Nusra-led opposition, which has been defending it against both regime forces and ISIS since earlier this month when ISIS gained control of the strategic a-Siyasiya bridge, the city’s main entrance. Two weeks ago, the opposition and ISIS reached a deal to allow aid to enter the city by crossing the bridge.

The photograph was published in the wake of ISIS formally announcing the formation of a Caliphate (Islamic state) in an online declaration on Sunday. Muslims across the world are required to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the current leader of ISIS, according to the statement.

-June 30, 2014

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