On February 17, 2023, local residents found the murdered bodies of at least 40 civilians, 15 of whom were members of the Bani Khaled Tribe, in an area near al-Sakhna town in the eastern suburbs of Homs governorate. The victims had been missing since February 11, 2023, when they went to harvest truffles in the area. All the bodies bore gunshot wounds.
While the Syrian Network for Human Rights is still investigating the incident in order to identify the perpetrators, pro-regime Iranian militias members are suspected of being responsible for the killings, since the area is under the control of Syrian regime forces and pro-Iranian militias, which did not launch any investigation into the incident. Further, Iranian militias regularly seize the truffle harvest in the area, causing repeated disputes between them and the local people.
