Monitoring Desk
LEBANON: At least 53 people, including soldiers, were killed in an attack in central Syria on Friday blamed on ISIS, state media reported.
“At least 53 citizens who were truffle hunting were killed during an ambush by the terrorists of ISIS to the southwest of Al-Sokhna town” in the desert east of Homs, state media reported.
Walid Audi, the director of Palmyra hospital, said those killed included 46 civilians and seven soldiers.
Audi said that their bodies had “been brought to the hospital after the attack” that targeted dozens.
US forces kill senior ISIS commander in Syria
Meanwhile, on Friday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said four American troops were injured in a blast during a raid that killed a senior ISIS commander in Syria.
It added that the ISIS commander, identified as Hamza al-Homsi, was killed while the American troops and a working dog were being treated at a US medical facility in Iraq.
Several people, including children and women, have been targeted in recent years while truffle hunting in eastern, northeastern, and central areas of Syria.
On Saturday, the Observatory said that at least 16 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a similar attack targeting foragers in the same area.
Dozens of others were kidnapped in the ambush, the Observatory said, adding that 25 of the kidnapped people were released.
