Issam Zahreddine
عصام زهر الدين
Also known as: The Last Man Standing of Deir ez-Zor
Journeys
Issam Zahreddine: The Last Man Standing in Deir ez-Zor
General Issam Zahreddine commanded a small Syrian government force that held the city of Deir ez-Zor for over three years while ISIS besieged it from all sides. Surrounded and with no land supply lines, he and his fighters became one of the most dramatic stories of the Syrian war — a pro-Assad force that nonetheless won admiration for its survival against the odds. He was killed by a landmine weeks after ISIS's siege was broken in September 2017.
The Siege of Deir ez-Zor: 1,000 Days Against ISIS
How 8,000 soldiers and civilians surrounded by ISIS survived for nearly three years — and the general who held the line until he was blown up by a landmine days after the siege ended.
Biography
Issam Zahreddine was a Syrian Arab Army general from the Druze community of Sweida who commanded government forces in Deir ez-Zor during the city's nearly three-year siege by ISIS. A boisterous, media-friendly commander who became one of the most recognizable government military figures of the war, he led approximately 8,000 soldiers and civilians surrounded by ISIS from 2014 to 2017. He survived the siege only to be killed by a landmine explosion on October 18, 2017, just weeks after the siege was finally lifted.