7 truffle pickers killed by landmine, child killed in regime strikes in Syria

At least seven civilians were killed in eastern Syria on Sunday by a landmine left by the Islamic State group, while a child was killed in regime airstrikes in the country’s northwest.

The seven died when their car drove over a landmine as they searched for truffles around the highlands of Jabal al Bishri in Deir Ezzor province, an activist told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Another six people picking truffles were also killed on Saturday in the Homs province, according to Syrian state-run media.

Since February, at least 140 people - most of them civilians and including children - have been killed by IS attacks targeting truffle hunters or by landmines left by the extremists.

Desert truffles fetch high prices in Syria, battered by 12 years of conflict and a crushing economic crisis.

In rebel-held Idlib province, a child was killed after artillery shelling by regime forces targeted the centre of the town of Sarmin.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said five other civilians were wounded in the shelling.

Rebel-held Idlib province – struck by February’s devastating earthquake which also left swathes of southeast Turkey destroyed – is home to about 4 million people, many of them displaced from other parts of Syria by Assad regime bombardment

The Syrian regime military also used surface-to-surface missiles to bomb rebel-held villages in Hama province.

The region has seen an increase in clashes between regime and opposition forces despite a de-escalation agreement brokered by Turkey and Russia, which have backed different sides in the conflict.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in Syria's conflict, and around half of Syria’s pre-war population has been displaced, mostly as a result of regime bombing of civilian areas. Much of the country’s infrastructure has been left in ruins.

Arab states which previously cut off ties with Damascus have recently made efforts to end the regime’s isolation in a rapprochement which could see President Bashar al-Assad attend an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia next month for the first time in over a decade.