DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria — With this year's abundant rainy season, truffle harvesters are venturing into the desert despite the danger of land mines and other ordnance planted by the Islamic State in the Syrian desert in the countryside of Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Homs, Abu Kamal and al-Mayadin.
Syria'a economic collapse, rampant poverty and unemployment forced Ali al-Hussein, 50, to take the risk with his wife and three children in the desert in Deir ez-Zor.
