Five Syrian truffle pickers killed by ISIS terrorists: SANA
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A source in the Homs police tells SANA that the five civilians were killed by ISIS militants on motorcycles in the Jubb al-Jarrah area in the eastern countryside of Homs.
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A merchant assists a woman as she sorts through truffles at a market in Hama, Syria, on Monday, March 6, 2023 (AFP)
Five Syrian civilians were martyred in an ISIS terrorist attack in the eastern countryside of Homs, SANA reported on Saturday.
The civilians were shot dead by ISIS militants on motorcycles while picking truffles in the Jubb al-Jarrah area, the outlet said, citing a source in the Homs police.
Syrians continue to be repeatedly attacked by ISIS terrorists, originating from the "55 km" area near the illegal US occupation base in Al-Tanf on the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border triangle, where the militants maintain a presence in the Syrian desert near American occupation forces.
Read more: Syrian military statement: US occupation cannot persist
Sanctions, war and terrorism
Despite the risks, residents of areas adjacent to the Syrian desert persist in harvesting truffles due to the economic crisis striking the country, originating from extreme US-led Western sanctions - most notably the Caeser Act - and the ongoing war on the country, which started over a decade ago.
The global chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday blamed ISIS for a 2015 attack on the Syrian town of Marea in which sulfur mustard was used.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) underscored previous reports by the body that mustard agents were used in the attack near Syria's border with Turkey.
"There are reasonable grounds to believe that units of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attack on September 1, 2015 in Marea, Syria," said the organization, which is based in The Hague.
"The chemical agent was delivered using one or more artillery guns," it added in a statement.
It said it had identified four individuals as perpetrators but did not name them.
