Ten civilians who were picking desert truffles were killed and 12 others injured on Monday (February 27th) when landmines laid by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) exploded in central Syria, according to the official Sana news agency. .
Civilians were looking for truffles in Hama province “when a mine left by Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS) terrorists exploded, killing nine citizens and injuring two others“, reported the agency.
The collapse of the Syrian economy
A second mine later exploded in the same area, according to Sana, killing one civilian and injuring ten others. The desert truffle, or sand truffle, is generally picked between February and April and sells for exorbitant prices: a kilogram of truffles sells in Damascus for between five and ten dollars, depending on their quality, in a country where the wage monthly average is $18 due to the collapse of the economy.
Syrian desert truffles are considered to be among the best in the world. This incident comes almost ten days after an attack attributed to IS, which killed 68 people harvesting truffles in eastern Homs province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights ( OSDH).
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IS had controlled large areas in Syria from 2014, including part of eastern Hama province, before being dislodged in 2017. In February, 112 people, including 92 civilians, were killed when collecting truffles, following ISIS attacks or the explosion of mines left by the extremist organization. The jihadist group has increased deadly attacks in recent months despite the loss of its strongholds in Syria and the blows inflicted by the international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States.
Nearly 10.2 million Syrians live in areas where explosive devices remain, which killed around 15,000 people between 2015 and 2022, according to the UN. These mines were laid without being mapped by the various warring parties, in the middle of agricultural land and inhabited areas. Almost daily, the Syrian authorities announce controlled explosions to destroy explosive devices, ammunition and other antipersonnel mines abandoned on the territory.
The country has been ravaged since 2011 by a conflict that has claimed the lives of half a million people and displaced millions of inhabitants.