Remnants of war kill 331 people in 1st quarter of 2023 in Syria

Since the beginning of the Syrian war in 2011, all parties to the conflict worked on planting IEDs and mines in their-held areas to protect themselves of foes’ attacks, ignoring their impacts.

What helped these parties in going ahead in planting landmines everywhere is that Syria did not sign the Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Treaty), which means that impunity is available.

Documentation and Monitoring Department of North Press recorded the killing of 331 people in mine explosions, including 129 civilians, 38 of them are children and nine are women during the first quarter of 2023.

In addition, the mine explosions resulted in the injury of 134 people, including 46 children.

The department recorded that 127 people were killed in Deir ez-Zor, 60 in Hama, 40 in Aleppo, 37 in Homs, 19 in Raqqa, 13 in Idlib, 12 in Daraa, 12 in Hasakah, eight in Damascus, two in Suwayda, and one in Latakia.

Between 2022 and 2023, 16,301 people lost their lives in mine explosions, according to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that pointed out that Syria has headed the list of the largest victims of remnants with the largest number of victims.

Landmines and explosive devices affect the safety of civilians, especially children, as they do not know how to deal with them. This ammunition poses a great threat to coming generations, as according to the outcome of the landmines in Syria, removing them from lands would take decades after the end of the Syrian war.

The Carter Center reported that in 2022 the number of mines, explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance in Syria has reached 6,632, while the number of landmines has reached 60,000. Regarding to cluster munitions, they reached 1,658 ones, while the number of air-launched munition has reached 364,000.

On the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, it is necessary to recall their danger and impacts on humans and environment that last for decades. They even pose a great danger to agriculture, which in turn creates an economic crisis and affects Syria’s future due to high costs of removing them.

Although the international law banned the use of mines, the parties to the conflict in Syria used them as a main war weapon to protect themselves of foes’ attacks.

Those parties, most notably the Islamic State (ISIS) violated the international law and committed war crimes, as they did not commit to the conditions of using weapons, such as giving cautions, educate civilians in nearby areas, installing signs of caution on the borders of the lands in which mines were planted, and providing information about them and how to remove them. However, the parties to the conflict plant mines randomly, leaving hundreds of casualties yearly.