Deir Ezzor-SANA
September 5, 2017, will remain an immortal day in the history of the city of Deir Ezzor and an unforgettable memory for all its people.. Four years have passed since the terrorist siege of the city was broken, in a story of steadfastness, unrelenting will and absolute trust in the protectors of the homeland.
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, the units of the Syrian Arab Army, which crossed hundreds of kilometers, managed to break the siege on the city, which had suffered for more than a thousand days from an unjust siege imposed by ISIS terrorists on the city in one of the most heinous crimes committed against the people who were prevented from them. Water and food, and thousands of shells were fired towards the neighborhoods in which they live, which claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people, injured thousands and caused permanent disabilities, but the steadfastness of the army and the people of Deir ez-Zor rallying around them produced a victory that dazzled the whole world.
Today, after four years of breaking the siege on the city and the subsequent liberation of large parts of the governorate, which was subjected to systematic sabotage that affected most of the infrastructure, public facilities and government facilities, the scene appears different in the governorate, which witnessed the return of most services and the reactivation of work in government institutions and departments, which contributed With the return of about a million citizens to their cities and villages from which they were displaced as a result of terrorism.
A member of the Executive Office of the Services and Utilities Sector, Ziad Al-Kadhim, said in a statement to SANA reporter that the governorate of Deir ez-Zor was subjected to great sabotage at the hands of terrorist organizations during the siege years, but that did not stop its children and service cadres from working to rebuild what was destroyed by terrorism and meet the needs resulting from this sabotage. Which increased dramatically as a result of the intensive and accelerated return of the people to the liberated areas, where Deir ez-Zor received great support from the government, accompanied by the continuous work of the service team in the governorate, which reflected positively and noticeably on the improvement of the service, development and production reality in all the liberated areas.
Al-Kadhim pointed out that the governorate has worked since the beginning of the liberation to secure basic services for the liberated areas, foremost of which is removing rubble, opening streets, rehabilitating sewage, water stations, bakeries and schools, in addition to the rest of the services such as electricity, communications, solar lighting, activating government departments and reviving commercial markets.
Workers in the drinking water sector had the lead in work and production, according to the Director of the Public Establishment for Drinking Water in Deir ez-Zor, Eng. Jassem Al-Hamid, who confirmed that the Corporation is working to secure clean and potable water for all areas of the governorate liberated from terrorism, through the main and model water stations, which number 67 from Out of 71 stations located in the liberated areas, work is currently underway to rehabilitate two stations that will enter service soon.
Al-Hamid indicated that the number of water pumping stations that were put into service increased from one station in 2017 to 33 in 2018, and reached 67 stations at the present time, including 9 stations in the city, 44 stations in the eastern countryside, 6 stations in the western countryside and 8 in the northern countryside, pointing out To carry out maintenance and rehabilitation works for all network lines connected to these stations and implement several projects to improve the reality of the water system.
Al-Hamid explained that the total production capacity of all stations is 17,803 cubic meters per hour, covering the needs of the people in the city's neighborhoods and the countryside of the governorate liberated from terrorism.
For his part, the Director of the General Electricity Company in Deir ez-Zor, Eng. Khaled Lutfi, stated that since the return of electricity to the governorate in 2018, most of the governorate’s area has been fed through the rehabilitation and operation of 20 kV stations, which are Al-Tala’i Station (8 exits), the radio station (5 exits) and a station Al-Taym (one exit), Al-Mayadeen station (4 exits) and Al-Jalaa station (3 exits), and 660 transformers of different capacities were installed.
According to Lutfi, the technical workshops also rehabilitated the first and second gas groups at the Al-Taym transfer station and entered them into service, in addition to extending networks of medium and low tension and delivering electricity to the northern countryside of the governorate by connecting a line to Husseiniya through Hawija Katta in the Euphrates River, and collection was reactivated through 7 centers In Deir ez-Zor, al-Mayadin, al-Bukamal and al-Asharah.
The educational sector is one of the sectors that witnessed a rapid recovery as well, as the Director of Education Jassem Al-Fraih stated that the number of opened schools reached 344, including 65 in the city of Deir Ezzor, 181 in the eastern countryside, 58 in the western countryside, 37 in the northern countryside, in addition to 22 schools under construction that will enter the educational process During the new academic year, the number of students reached more than 146,000, and work in educational complexes was reactivated, and all the requirements of the educational process were secured, including classroom seats, books and school supplies.
The wheel of agricultural production, in both its plant and animal parts, returned with the return of the people to their cities and villages, which was explained by the Director of Agriculture, Engineer Abdel Hamid Abdel Hamid, stressing that the agricultural sector returned to work after receiving a lot of government support by providing all production requirements such as seeds, fertilizers, fuel, irrigation water and rehabilitation of the two sectors The third and fifth for government irrigation and the rehabilitation and installation of 117 agricultural irrigation groups, which increased the area of agricultural land, which this season reached about 30 thousand hectares for the wheat season, 4216 hectares for the cotton season, 3372 for the vegetable season, 1252 hectares for the sesame crop and 4518 hectares for the yellow corn crop, pointing to the reactivation of work In 44 extension units that work to provide support to farmers and provide grants that include drip irrigation networks in addition to production grants.
The health sector, in turn, witnessed a remarkable improvement in the years that followed the end of the siege on Deir ez-Zor and the liberation of its countryside from terrorism, knowing that it continued to provide medical services to citizens throughout the years of the unjust siege through Al-Assad Hospital and 4 health centers in the city.
The Director of Health, Dr. Bashar Al-Shuaibi, pointed out that the number of health centers increased from 4 centers at the end of 2017 to 42 centers. Work continued to provide services within the hospital complex in Al-Assad Hospital, which includes the General Authority of Al-Assad Hospital, which provides surgical services (general, orthopedic, vascular, neurological and thoracic). In addition to the Industrial College Department, which contains 17 dialysis machines, the lithotripsy department, and outpatient clinics that include clinics for diseases (ear, nose, and throat, ophthalmology, neurological, urinary, orthopedic, oral and maxillofacial surgery and surgery), and a central laboratory for medical analysis, imaging, mammography, and the Euphrates Hospital, which provides Internal medicine services, cardiology, neurological care, and a pediatric and obstetrics hospital, which provides diseases, gynecological and pediatric services, and contains an operating room and delivery room, and an incubator suite, which includes 16 incubators with modern specifications.
Al-Shuaibi noted that the health sector has been supplied with many medical and health needs, including medicines, vaccines, advanced medical devices, surgical vehicles, mobile clinics and ambulances.
The rest of the sectors in the governorate, in turn, received great support that contributed to improving the service reality of the governorate, as Al-Furat University continued to work in most faculties, while the number of communication centers entering the service reached 11, and the number of Syrian trade halls was 45 halls and outlets spread over the entire area of the governorate in conjunction with work on Positive intervention in the markets by offering locally produced vegetables from the farmer to the consumer directly.
As for the number of bakeries in the governorate, it has reached 62 bakeries, while work has been activated in the Civil Registry Secretariat in each of Al-Shamitiah, Al-Bukamal, Al-Mayadin, Al-Jalaa, Al-Ashara, Al-Tabani and Muhassan, and in the Immigration and Passports branch, and the citizen service center has been opened in the city council. In it, markets and bakeries are constantly monitored and violators are arrested.
Ibrahim Zilli