On March 19, 2023, so-far unidentified gunmen attacked civilian workers collecting desert truffles in the Abu Hayya area in the western badiya (desert area) of Deir Ez-Zour. Two of the workers, Qasem Hamdan al-Khlief al-Hawwas and Abdul Qader Bseeis al-Mohammad al-Hawwas, were killed in the attack while the gunmen abducted three others and took them to an undisclosed location. The area is under the control of Syrian regime forces. The Syrian Network for Human Rights is still trying to locate eyewitnesses to obtain more information about the incident. We call on the controlling forces to uphold their responsibilities for protecting civilians in their areas, investigate the incident, and make the findings of this investigation public. There will be no stability in Syria without a genuine political process leading to democracy implemented according to a fixed timetable.
