ISIL’s treasurer steals ‘Zakat’ funds, flees to Turkey: Report

ISTANBUL

In this Jan. 29, 2015 file photo, a Kurdish peshmerga fighter fires a weapon towards positions of ISIL who are 500 meters or half a mile away, overlooking the strategic town of Sinjar, northern Iraq. While ISIL fighters have been forced to retreat from Kobane, the strategic town on Syria’s border with Turkey, they appear far from beaten in northern Iraq. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen, File)

An Egyptian man has delivered a financial blow to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), after reportedly becoming the “emir” of its alms department before fleeing to Turkey with almost $1 million.Abu Obeida al-Masri, who was the secretary of the “Zakat” (charity) bureau and treasurer of ISIL’s Syrian branch, fled with the funds amounting to “a billion Syrian pounds,” which were collected by his department in the Deir Ez Zour province, the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported, citing the Syrian Press Center news site.Following the incident, ISIL militants have reportedly issued an order to stop recruiting Egyptian jihadists.