BEIRUT — A top figure in the self-proclaimed Islamic State's self-declared police force, which has carried out beheadings, was himself found decapitated in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said. The man was an Egyptian national and was known as the deputy “emir” of the Al-Hesbah force in a Syrian province, the British-based the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. His body, which showed signs of torture, was found near a power plant in Al-Mayadeen city in the Deir-Al-Zor province, it said, citing contacts on the ground. “We do not know whether IS killed him or whether it was local people or other fighters,” said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, which reports on events in Syria through a network of contacts on the ground. “Either way it is important, because he was a very important man,” he said, adding that he believed it was the first time that an Al-Hesbah member had been killed in this way. The Observatory said the message “This is evil, you Sheikh” was found written on the corpse, which had a cigarette in its mouth. Residents in areas controlled by IS have said the group has banned smoking in public. In December, a similar self-declared police force in western Syria decapitated four men after accusing them of blasphemy, according to the Observatory. It reported a similar killing days earlier in the north of the country. — Reuters
