The Bedouin communities living in the unforgiving Badia, or the Syrian desert, are facing a surge in armed attacks. The violence reaches a peak each year between February and April: the truffle season. As tribes go out to hunt truffles, they risk being ambushed by sleeper cells of the Islamic State group, which has taken refuge in the Badia since 2019. This exclusive investigation from FRANCE 24's Observers team exposes the horrific abuses being carried out deep in the desert.

With his Rwandan-born wife Dafroza, Alain Gauthier has devoted decades of his life to tracking down genocide suspects who have found refuge in France. So far, the Gauthiers' efforts have led to about 30 legal cases being initiated in France against Rwandan suspects, all of them men. Alain Gauthier used a recent trip to Rwanda to seek testimony against Claude Muhayimana, a former hotel driver in Rwanda who took refuge in France and gained French nationality in 2010. He is accused of having transported militiamen to sites in the west, including the Bisesero region, where massacres were carried out. His trial was due to begin in Paris on February 2 2021, but has been delayed owing to the coronavirus pandemic making it difficult for witnesses to travel.