ISIS Group Kills 15 Truffle Hunters in Syria, Says Monitor

A customer buys a desert truffle from a merchant in a market in Syria's rebel-held northern city of Raqa on March 14, 2023. (AFP)
A customer buys a desert truffle from a merchant in a market in Syria's rebel-held northern city of Raqa on March 14, 2023. (AFP)
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ISIS Group Kills 15 Truffle Hunters in Syria, Says Monitor

A customer buys a desert truffle from a merchant in a market in Syria's rebel-held northern city of Raqa on March 14, 2023. (AFP)
A customer buys a desert truffle from a merchant in a market in Syria's rebel-held northern city of Raqa on March 14, 2023. (AFP)

The ISIS group killed 15 people foraging for desert truffles in conflict-ravaged central Syria, while 40 others are missing, a war monitor said Friday.

Syria's desert truffles fetch high prices in a country battered by 12 years of war and a crushing economic crisis.

Since February, at least 150 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed by ISIS attacks targeting truffle hunters or by landmines left by the extremists, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"At least 15 people, including seven civilians and eight local pro-regime fighters, were killed by ISIS fighters who slit their throats while they were collecting truffles on Thursday," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Forty others are missing following the attack in Hama province, he added.

Syrian state media did not immediately report the incident.

Between February and April each year, hundreds of impoverished Syrians search for truffles in the vast Syrian Desert, or Badia -- a known hideout for extremists that is also littered with landmines.

Foragers risk their lives to collect the delicacies, despite repeated warnings about landmines and ISIS fighters.

Earlier this month, ISIS fighters killed three truffle hunters and kidnapped at least 26 others in northern Syria, according to the monitor, which relies on a vast network of sources inside Syria.

That attack happened near positions held by pro-Iran forces, said the Britain-based Observatory.



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.