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Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani

b. 1986

Senior oil official for the Islamic State

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About Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani

Born 1986. Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani is a Saudi.

Faysal Ahmad Bin 'Ali al-Zahrani (; born 18–19 January 1986) is a Saudi Arabian man and senior oil official for the Islamic State.

Early life He was born on 18–19 January 1986 in Saudi Arabia. He is also known as Abu Sara al-Jazrawi, Abu Sarah al-Saudi and Abu Sarah al-Zahrani.

Islamic State He joined Islamic State in June 2014. In July 2014, he joined the natural resources ministry (Diwan al-Rikaz), which oversees the Islamic State's trade in oil and gas.

In January 2015, he controlled five oil fields. As head of IS's oil and gas division in Al-Hasakah Governorate, he oversaw the activities of seven IS oil and gas officials. He sent the IS treasury tens of millions of dollars in oil and gas revenues between September 2014 and March 2015.

As of May 2015, he was the IS oil and gas division official for al-Barakah Province (IS's territory in Syria's al-Hasakah Governorate), serving directly under IS oil and gas emir for Syria Abu Sayyaf who was killed in May 2015. Prior to Abu Sayyaf's death, al-Zahrani regularly transferred funds to him. In May 2015, he assumed control and oversight of car bomb production at the Rukaybah oil production plant compound. As of June 2015, he supervised an IS oil production plant in Rukaybah.

By August 2015, he was in charge of all IS oil and gas activities in al-Barakah Province, which included supervising oil auctions to local merchants. As of December 2015, al-Zahrani remained responsible for IS oil and gas activities in the areas around Al-Shaddadah.

US and UN sanctions He was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury on 11 February 2016.

He was listed by the United Nations Security Council on 20 April 2016 "as being associated with IS or Al-Qaeda for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of Islamic State (IS)”, listed as Al-Qaeda in Iraq".

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Important facts

Born
1986, Saudi Arabia
Birth century
Nationality

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani?

senior oil official for the Islamic State

When was Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani born?

Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani was born in 1986 in Saudi Arabia.

What nationality is Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani?

Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani is Saudi.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani

· Wikidata: Q27996571

· DBpedia: Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani. https://biography.guide/faysal-ahmad-ali-al-zahrani/

MLA: "Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/faysal-ahmad-ali-al-zahrani/.

Chicago: "Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/faysal-ahmad-ali-al-zahrani/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

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