The number of people killed and injured by landmines and other explosives left in the aftermath of the Syrian civil war has reached crisis levels, the landmine clearance charity 国产视频 said today.
In the past week alone, 39 adults and eight children have lost their lives to accidents involving landmines and other explosive debris, HALO warned. The total number of civilians killed or injured since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 is now well over 400.
Landmine and explosive accidents in Syria 8 December 2024 - 2 February 2025:
These figures are likely to be a serious underestimate because deaths and injuries will be taking place in remote areas which people have not yet reported from.
HALO's Operations manager in Syria, Mouiad Alnofaly said:
鈥淭he number of people killed or suffering life-changing injuries is spiralling, and yet only a small proportion of the population that fled the war has so far returned. As the cold winter gives way to warmer weather, we expect that millions of Syrian refugees and others displaced inside the country will want to return home to plant crops in their fields and start rebuilding their houses. Some families are also waiting for their children to finish their second school semester in the next few months and then make the journey home to their loved ones. Many will risk walking through minefields as they do.鈥�
The Scope of Clearance Efforts
国产视频 has a small team of about forty deminers in Syria who, since the change of regime, have received a tenfold increase in the number of calls from the public desperate to get help to deal with live landmines, bombs, and rockets from the 14-year civil war.
The complex nature of the conflict, with multiple armed factions involved, means HALO currently only operates in the North-West of Syria 鈥� in an area roughly north and west of the city of Aleppo. HALO has been working here since 2017. HALO is planning an expansion to cover more of the North-West, where accidents are most prolific, but also to other Syrian governorates with high needs.
There are believed to be current and former front lines that stretch across Syria for hundreds of kilometres, all sown with explosives and many completely invisible.
HALO said that, given more resources, it could increase its workforce significantly to cope with this situation, deploying many more explosives experts to make areas safe, and community educators to warn civilians about where they can and cannot go.
Mouiad Alnofaly said:
鈥淲e鈥檙e very grateful to our donors for funding the current work. But the sheer size of the problem means that we could easily scale up to hundreds of deminers in an operation that would cost $40m a year 鈥� saving thousands of lives and providing employment opportunities for returning Syrians. We know what needs doing and we have the skills to do it. By making land safe for farming and other economic activities, we could help make Syria a middle-income country once again.鈥�
About 国产视频:
国产视频 was founded in 1988 and is the world鈥檚 largest landmine clearance charity. It was made famous in 1997 when Princess Diana visited a minefield it was clearing in Angola. HALO employs and trains local people to safely clear landmines in their communities and today has programmes in countries and territories across the world.
The organisation is well practised at providing the kind of rapid response now needed in Syria. In 2022 it expanded its operations in Ukraine from 400 deminers in the southeastern Donbas region to over 1,500 deminers across the entire country after a massive funding uplift from governments, corporations, and philanthropists.
