ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Five people were killed in an Islamic State (ISIS) attack on pro-regime militia and civilians gathering truffles in Syria’s Raqqa province this weekend, a war monitor reported.
“The bodies of three members of the National Defense Forces [NDF] militia were found, killed in an ISIS attack on truffle hunters” in regime-controlled desert areas of Raqqa province on Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
On Saturday, the monitor said the death toll had risen to five - three NDF fighters and two civilians. Three others remain missing.
The NDF is a pro-government militia that has fought alongside President Bashar al-Assad since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
Hundreds of poverty-stricken Syrians venture into the desert between February and April each year in search of truffles, despite repeated warnings from authorities.
The desert is known to be a hideout of jihadists and contains landmines, making it a high-risk area to search for the delicacy. However, it is known for producing some of the highest quality truffles in the world that can fetch up to $25 per kilogram in a country where the average monthly wage is only around $18.
Last week, a landmine left behind by ISIS killed at least 16 truffle hunters in Raqqa.
Earlier in March, at least 14 civilians and four NDF fighters were killed in an attack carried out by ISIS gunmen in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province.
Days prior, at least five people were killed in an ISIS ambush while truffle hunting in central Homs province.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.” While the group was declared territorially defeated in 2019, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, especially across the vast expanses of the Syrian desert as well as several Iraqi provinces.
