04:50Syria: Residents of IS-threatened Hasakah enjoy desert truffles despite increasing risks
In earthquake-hit, IS-threatened Hasakah, local residents enjoy and trade terfezia desert truffles for a living, as footage filmed on Thursday shows.
"Our work is tiring, every day we go out from morning until evening, and he leaves his house and children to get his livelihood. We go out to Jabal Abdel Aziz to an area called Merzouga, and we consider it our source of livelihood," said local resident Salam Khalaf. "Every year we go to extract truffles from it. Every year we go out, we don't care about anything, but this year when we heard that there are mines and we saw news on TV that there were mine explosions in Deir Ezzor and Palmyra, we became afraid, and within these risks we go to get our livelihood and we are afraid of mines."
Footage showed street scenes of traders receiving the fist-sized terfezia desert truffles, delivered in vans. After they were washed, they were displayed for sale.
"People are afraid to go to the desert because there are people killed or injured by mines there, so there is a shortage of material. This is from God. All scholars were able to do everything except this matter that they could not do except the Lord of the worlds, the truffle," said another local, Adnan Basri.
Last month, media outlets blamed IS fighters for the deaths of 53 people searching for truffles in Homs. The group did not claim responsibility for the killings.
According to local media, security forces were reinforced near two prisons in Hasakah province, where thousands of Islamic State prisoners are being held. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were reportedly holding about 10,000 IS fighters in detention centres in northeastern Syria.
04:50In earthquake-hit, IS-threatened Hasakah, local residents enjoy and trade terfezia desert truffles for a living, as footage filmed on Thursday shows.
"Our work is tiring, every day we go out from morning until evening, and he leaves his house and children to get his livelihood. We go out to Jabal Abdel Aziz to an area called Merzouga, and we consider it our source of livelihood," said local resident Salam Khalaf. "Every year we go to extract truffles from it. Every year we go out, we don't care about anything, but this year when we heard that there are mines and we saw news on TV that there were mine explosions in Deir Ezzor and Palmyra, we became afraid, and within these risks we go to get our livelihood and we are afraid of mines."
Footage showed street scenes of traders receiving the fist-sized terfezia desert truffles, delivered in vans. After they were washed, they were displayed for sale.
"People are afraid to go to the desert because there are people killed or injured by mines there, so there is a shortage of material. This is from God. All scholars were able to do everything except this matter that they could not do except the Lord of the worlds, the truffle," said another local, Adnan Basri.
Last month, media outlets blamed IS fighters for the deaths of 53 people searching for truffles in Homs. The group did not claim responsibility for the killings.
According to local media, security forces were reinforced near two prisons in Hasakah province, where thousands of Islamic State prisoners are being held. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were reportedly holding about 10,000 IS fighters in detention centres in northeastern Syria.