Landmine kills 4 women from Syria’s Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, four women from Raqqa, in northern Syria, lost their lives in an explosion of a landmine, most likely left by the Islamic State (ISIS), in Jebel Bishri, in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria.
The four women were reportedly in search for truffles. The search for the elusive stuff has caused dozens of people to lose their lives in the Syrian Desert due to the spread of landmines.
Local activists circulated a news on Facebook that four women, who hail from the village of Abu Hamad, east of Raqqa, were killed in a landmine explosion during their work in hunting truffles in the Jebel Bishri area, in the Syrian Desert.
Civilians, including women and men, have been truffle-hunting since February, and they take the career as a profitable source for living, since each kilo of truffle is sold for as high as 100,000 Syrian pounds (around $13).
However, the truffle-hunting season can easily have deadly ends, as the Syrian Desert is fraught with dangers, such as the presence of extremists and left-over landmines.
Residents living near the Syrian Desert, which is rich in high-quality truffles, cannot comb the entire area due to the existing risks – mainly pro-Iranian militias, as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Truffles are monopolized by some influential figures affiliated with the Iranian militias. Residents tend to work as day laborers for brokers affiliated with the IRGC.
The Syrian Desert covers nearly half of Syria, and is distributed over the governorates of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Rif Dimashq, Suwayda and Palmyra.
Iranian-backed militias and government forces control large areas of the Syrian Desert and the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, which constitutes a source of concern, as it is the site of intensive operations by ISIS sleeper cells, which stand accused of killing truffles hunters.