Eighteen people, most of them civilians, were killed on Wednesday in an attack attributed to the Islamic State (IS) group in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) announced on Sunday. .
More than 50 people are missing following the attack and the clashes between the attackers and pro-government forces, according to the Observatory.
“Eighteen people, including four pro-regime fighters, were killed and more than 50 others are missing, after an attack launched by armed men probably affiliated with ISIS”
against people collecting truffles, the Observatory said. .
According to the OSDH, based in the United Kingdom but which has a vast network of sources in the country at war, the attackers attacked the group with machine guns.
A dozen cars were set on fire during violent clashes between jihadists and pro-regime fighters after the attack, the NGO added.
Deadly attacks
ISIS, which took control of entire swathes of the country from 2014, was territorially defeated in March 2019 by an international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States and Kurdish forces.
But cells of the jihadist organization scattered across the desert regularly carry out deadly attacks, particularly during the rainy season, between February and April, the only time of year when sand truffles can be collected.
The Syrian desert is renowned for producing some of the best truffles in the world, which fetch high prices in a country in the midst of an economic crisis after nearly 13 years of war and where their harvest can represent an attractive livelihood.
According to the OSDH, IS jihadists often attack residents who go looking for truffles in remote areas.
Despite frequent warnings from authorities, this high-risk activity continues.
In 2023, several hundred people, mostly civilians, were killed while collecting sand truffles, during attacks by IS fighters in the desert or in mine explosions, according to a count by the OSDH.
The war in Syria, triggered by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011, has left more than half a million dead, displaced millions of people and fragmented the country.