Anyone following the pictures and videos coming from Deir Ezzor recently, notes that the withdrawal of black smoke did not leave the neighborhoods of the city and its countryside, despite the end of the fighting for weeks.
The residents of the governorate now know that these clouds are the result of the continuous burning of high tension, electricity cables, communication towers and other tools stolen from the neighborhoods of Deir Ezzor and from the eastern towns, villages and towns, after they were controlled by the regime forces and allied militias.
The main objective of the burn operations is to obtain the copper material inside the cables and the power cords, especially for sale to the merchants who transport them to Aleppo, which became the main destination for what was “stolen” in Deir Ezzor, starting with household appliances and ending with the burning of electric cables , And the latter is now called inside Deir Ezzor profession “Altnhis”, after the many dealers within the province.
According to the confirmed information received by the “Euphrates Post” from its sources, that the forces of the regime and allied militias, and after the withdrawal of ISIS from the neighborhoods of Deir Ezzor, the division of the functions of “theft” between them in the form of sectors, to “steal” each district of Jurisdiction of a group of regime forces, militias, or a branch of security.
These districts have been applied to the rest of the eastern cities, towns and villages. There is an area where the “robbery” has taken place, including the Baqir militia, the National Defense militia and a third of the Jerusalem Brigade. They took from “stealing copper or AL-tanhis” a lucrative career.
According to the above, the theft of the cabels came in order to obtain the copper material in them, estimated at tens of millions of Syrian pounds, and carried heavy mechanisms of thefts and publicly in front of civilians, and crossed the security and military barriers of the system and militias without any obstacles.
The robberies after this division start first with household purposes, and then the other stage of the removal of the windows and doors of the houses made of iron, and finally the electrical installations, whether on the wooden or concrete columns, or what exists on the high tension poles if available In the region.
The information provided by our sources indicates that Aleppo, the last stable of what was stolen in Deir Ezzor, was crossed by a number of large merchants associated with the regime, headed by what is known as “Al-Qatraji”. The sale is done in bulk, ie the merchant buys from one of the branches or militias, A number of trucks carrying the tools that were stolen from Deir Ezzor, and after unloading them in Aleppo, these vehicles return to Deir Ezzor to carry out the same mission but in other areas.
Some areas of Deir Ezzor witnessed a unique case of “theft”, which consisted of digging the earth and extracting the extensions inside it, after the completion of the “theft” over it.
Al-Jura district, west of Deir Ezzor city, the Euphrates Post received information showing that it now contains more than 200 warehouses. The purpose is to store the copper extracted from the “theft” operations and to burn the cables before they are sold to the merchants. Of the militias assigned to this matter, and then sold to the Ministry of Defense of the system, for use in the re-manufacture of ammunition (lead) again.
Ahmed Batos, a member of the National Defense militia, is one of the main buyers of “stolen” copper. He stole a large Khan on the 20th Street in Al-Jura district and placed large quantities of electrical appliances, Tons of copper stolen from electrical transformers, water stations and communications towers.
Batos works completely freely, without any action from the authorities of the regime, and has reached the point of buying the explosives of the copper shells of tanks and artillery.
It is worth mentioning that the forces of the regime and the militias, and when they took control of the villages and towns of the western village of Deir Ezzor in the middle of last year, “stole” civilian property. The cars of the regime were seen carrying stolen furniture from refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, motorcycles, televisions, gas cylinders, generators and water engines Household and agricultural, even electric bars and heaters and bathrooms were stolen.
The thefts also included livestock, whose sheep and cows were moved to the neighborhoods controlled by the regime in Deir Ezzor, to be sold to Meat sellers stores at different prices.
It is noteworthy that the regime’s forces and militias have consistently practiced “theft” and theft of property in the areas they control in Syria. The past years have witnessed major operations, especially in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo and in other parts of Syria, but the “theft” During the past months, the largest of its kind during the years of war in Syria.