DAMASCUS (Middle East Eye) – The death toll from an attack blamed on the Daesh terrorist group in Syria has risen to 68, an activist group says, the deadliest attack in over a year.
“A total of 61 civilians and seven soldiers have been killed in the attack,” said Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The UK-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said the attack had been carried out on Friday by suspects on motorcycles who opened fire on truffle hunters.
The monitor said that Daesh was taking advantage of the annual harvest of the desert fungus delicacy, which generally runs from February to April, to carry out attacks in remote locations.
The attack takes the total number murdered in suspected Daesh attacks in the Syrian desert to 90 since 10 February, the monitor said.
Terrorist outfits, most notably among them Daesh, unleashed a campaign of bloodletting and destruction in Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014 as the United States was running out of excuses to extend or enlarge its regional meddling.
In 2017, Iran’s military advisory assistance -- alongside help provided by the Arab country’s other allies, including support aerial operations by Russia -- helped Damascus defeat Daesh.
The group, whose numerous attempts at regrouping have failed ever since, has, however, been carrying out sporadic attacks across Syria through its remnants and sleeper cells.
The Friday attack was the deadliest attack by the outfit since January last year when the terrorists stormed a prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah in a bid to free fellow terrorists.
The resulting fighting inside the city killed 105 people, mostly civilians, as well as 268 terrorists.