ISIS Militants Kill at Least 18 People in an Attack on Villagers Collecting Truffles in Eastern Syria

 A Syrian vendor displays truffles at a market in Aleppo on February 28, 2024. (AFP)
A Syrian vendor displays truffles at a market in Aleppo on February 28, 2024. (AFP)
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ISIS Militants Kill at Least 18 People in an Attack on Villagers Collecting Truffles in Eastern Syria

 A Syrian vendor displays truffles at a market in Aleppo on February 28, 2024. (AFP)
A Syrian vendor displays truffles at a market in Aleppo on February 28, 2024. (AFP)

ISIS militants attacked villagers collecting truffles in eastern Syria on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and leaving dozens injured and missing, opposition activists and pro-government media said.

The attack against the truffle hunters was one of the deadliest strikes by the ISIS group in the area in more than a year. It took place in a desert area near the town of Kobajeb in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor that borders Iraq. Some of the truffle gatherers may have been kidnapped, opposition activists said.

Despite the militant group’s defeat in Syria in March 2019, ISIS sleeper cells still carry deadly attacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq, across a wide swath of territory where the extremists had once ruled.

Since truffle hunters work in large groups in remote areas, ISIS militants in previous years have repeatedly preyed on them, emerging from the desert to kill many and abduct others to be ransomed for money.

Separately, in Syria's opposition-held northwest, an al-Qaeda-linked group released more than 400 detainees from its jails after days of protests demanding their freedom.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said that the attack Wednesday in Deir Ezzor left 18 people dead and 16 wounded. It said about 50 people were missing and might have been kidnapped by ISIS. Twelve vehicles were torched.

The Observatory said the dead included four members of the pro-government National Defense Forces, which had sent reinforcements to the area.

The pro-government Dama Post media outlet said the death toll was as high as 44 and that some 13 vehicles used by the truffle farmers were set fire to and destroyed.

The disparate casualty figures could not be immediately reconciled. Different death tolls in Syria are not uncommon in the immediate aftermath of deadly attacks.

The truffles are a seasonal delicacy that can be sold for a high price and many in Syria, where 90% of the population lives below the poverty line, go out to collect them.

In February 2023, ISIS militants killed dozens of civilians and security officers in an attack on truffle hunters in the deserts of central Syria.

In Syria's Idlib province, the recent death of a member of an opposition faction, allegedly while being tortured in a jail run by the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, has sparked days of protests in various parts of the province.

Protesters have demanded the release of prisoners, including during a rally Tuesday night at an HTS jail in the town of Daret Azzeh that drew warning gunfire from HTS fighters, further angering protesters. The protesters also have demanded the resignation of HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

Golani responded with concessions, including the release Wednesday of 420 detainees from HTS jails, according to several opposition activists, including the Observatory.

Anti-HTS sentiments had been rising since a wave of arrests by the group of senior officials within the organization, which was previously known as Nusra Front before changing its name several times and distancing itself from al-Qaeda.

In August, the group announced that its co-founder and top official Maysara al-Jubouri, better known as Abu Maria al-Qahtani, was arrested over misuse of social media. Al-Jubouri, an Iraqi citizen, had been a longtime al-Qaeda official who fought against US forces in Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

In 2011, he was one of several al-Qaeda officials who moved to Syria, months after the country’s ongoing deadly conflict began. There have been reports that al-Jubouri will be released soon.

In the weeks that followed al-Jubouri’s arrest, dozens of HTS officials and members of other factions allied with them were detained and allegedly tortured in jails run by al-Golani loyalists for allegedly giving intelligence information to the US-led coalition that has, over the years, killed top al-Qaeda commanders in drone strikes in different parts of Syria.



Lebanon to Increase Army Personnel Ahead of Possible Deployment South of Litani

Prime Minister Najib Mikati chairing the cabinet meeting (Photo: The Prime Minister’s office)
Prime Minister Najib Mikati chairing the cabinet meeting (Photo: The Prime Minister’s office)
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Lebanon to Increase Army Personnel Ahead of Possible Deployment South of Litani

Prime Minister Najib Mikati chairing the cabinet meeting (Photo: The Prime Minister’s office)
Prime Minister Najib Mikati chairing the cabinet meeting (Photo: The Prime Minister’s office)

The Lebanese government has approved funding to recruit 1,500 new military personnel in the Lebanese Army as part of an initiative to increase military presence along the southern border, amid Israel’s ongoing hostilities.
The funds will be provided to the Ministry of Defense as an advance, a decision highlighted by the Minister of Information for its political and international significance, particularly in relation to implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati in the caretaker government emphasized that continued and escalating Israeli attacks on Lebanon amount to crimes against humanity. He stated that a primary pathway to a resolution involves halting hostilities against the country, fully implementing Resolution 1701, and electing a new president to restore institutional order, stability, and initiate reconstruction.

Mikati condemned what he described as an international failure to stop Israel’s actions against Lebanon, which include attacks on towns and villages, civilian deaths, and strikes against medical and relief personnel.
“We condemn and hold the international community responsible for the continuation of Israel’s genocidal war on Lebanon, its destruction of towns and villages, killing of civilians, assassination of army personnel, and targeting of medical teams, civil defense, relief teams, and journalists.
“Additionally, the attacks on UNIFIL, which represents international legitimacy, make targeting UNIFIL an assault on the international community and the Security Council. This destruction continues to affect hospitals, schools, and educational centers,” stated Mikati.
On the international front, Mikati highlighted the solidarity shown by world figures, referring to his discussions with leaders like Jordan’s King Abdullah, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, and Britain’s Prime Minister. This was further demonstrated during the Paris Conference in Support of Lebanon -late on October- he underlined, specifically thanking France for its humanitarian efforts and military support.
But he added: “But unfortunately, Israel is blatantly disregarding all international efforts to achieve a ceasefire.”
The prime minister reiterated Lebanon’s stance on safeguarding its dignity and sovereignty across air, sea, and land, pledging to confront any Israeli violations.
Following the cabinet meeting, Minister of Information Ziad Makari assured that funds to recruit 1,500 additional soldiers are available and that the government encountered no issues regarding this allocation.
Nasser Yassin, the government’s Emergency Committee coordinator, announced that the cabinet approved fuel allocations for 541 shelters in mountainous regions over 300 meters in altitude to ensure winter heating. Yassin also detailed efforts concerning the people displaced as the result of the Israeli hostilities in Lebanon.
He highlighted that there are 44,000 families in 1,138 shelters and an additional 147,000 families housed within communities.