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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)
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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.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.