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Fifteen people were killed while collecting truffles in central Syria, as a result of an attack launched by militants affiliated with the cells of the “Islamic State” organization, while forty others are still missing, according to what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday, March 24, 2023. The Observatory stated that “at least 15 people They are seven civilians and eight local gunmen loyal to Damascus, who were massacred Thursday, March 23, 2023, by cells affiliated with the “Islamic State” organization, while they were collecting truffles in the eastern countryside of Hama Governorate.
He explained that forty others are still missing.
The official media did not mention the attack.
Since the start of the truffle collection season in February 2023, the organization has repeatedly launched attacks targeting workers in the vast Syrian desert, punctuated by shootings and kidnappings, which have claimed dozens of lives.
In mid-February, 68 people were killed while collecting truffles in an attack launched by the organization in the eastern countryside of Homs, according to the Observatory. Also, others were killed as a result of the explosion of mines that the extremist organization had previously planted during its control of the area.
Despite the risks, residents of the areas bordering the Syrian Badia continue to collect truffles, whose season lasts until April and are sold at a high price, which explains the demand for collecting them in light of difficult economic conditions with a war that has been going on for 12 years.
Since 2011, Syria has been witnessing a bloody and complex conflict, which has caused the death of more than half a million people, massive destruction of infrastructure, and the displacement of more than half of the population inside and outside the country.