General Issam Zahreddine. From 10 April 2016 to 31 August 2017, the World Food Programme supplied the city with food and essential relief items through a high-altitude airdrop service. With a Russian contracted Il-76 aircraft and parachute systems provided by Canada, the USA, and Russia, a total of 8015 pallets with an average weight of 754 kg were dropped into the besieged city of Deir-Ez-Zor. Three hundred nine flights were performed during the operational period. In early September 2017, the Syrian Army, moving from al-Sukhnah, reached the stronghold and joined the besieged garrison. Shortly after that, the siege of both the city as well as the city's airport were lifted. By 3 November 2017, the SAA had fully recaptured the city. Concurrently with its operations to capture Deir ez-Zor, the Syrian Army launched a campaign to secure the whole western bank of the Euphrates, which ended on 17 December 2017. From 8 September 2017 to 23 March 2019, a military operation east of the Euphrates River led by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the CJTF–OIR took place against the last bastion of the Islamic State in Syria. The campaign ended with a decisive victory for the SDF and its allies, and resulted in the capture of all of ISIL territory in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate after the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani. In December 2022, oil workers were killed by ISIS. Economy The city and its rural surrounding is a fertile and prosperous farming area, with livestock-breeding (for awassi sheep), cereals and cotton crops. Many agribusiness institutions work there as well. Since the discovery of light crude petroleum in the Syrian desert it has become a centre for the country's petroleum extraction industry. It is also a minor centre for tourism with many tourist facilities such as traditional French-style riverbank restaurants, up to 5-star hotels, a hub for trans-desert travel and an airport (IATA code: DEZ) in Al-Jafra suburb. There are salt mines nearby. Culture The majority of Deiries (from Deir ez-Zor) are Arab Muslims, with few Armenian and Assyrian/Syriac families. Deir ez-Zor was the final concentration place for Deir ez-Zor Camps for annihilating the Armenian deportation caravans. Tens of thousands of surviving men, women and children were systematically killed on the banks of the Euphrates River. The Armenian genocide Memorial Church commemorated the memory of Genocide victims who lost their lives, but it was destroyed on 21 September 2014 by