‘Faceless killer’: Syria land mines keep sowing death
The airstrikes and shelling responsible for many of the Syrian war’s half million deaths have decreased in recent years
DAMASCUS: Family members from three generations were huddled on the back of a pickup truck for what started as a joyful ride through the Syrian countryside for Abdulaziz Al-Oqab and his relatives.
They were planning to sample the long-forgotten peacetime pleasure of a simple family picnic when a land mine brought a bloody end to their outing, and to the lives of 21 family members.
Oqab walked away with relatively light wounds that day in February 2019, but the blast killed his wife, two of his sons, four of his siblings, an uncle and other family members, and left others maimed.
“It was a day of joy that turned into tragedy,” Oqab, 41, told AFP. “I’ve come to hate going out since then. People live in fear of this faceless killer that could be anywhere.”
The airstrikes and shelling responsible for many of the Syrian war’s half million deaths have decreased in recent years.
But remnants of explosives laid by all sides in the 11-year-old conflict are now claiming more lives in Syria than anywhere else in the world, says the United Nations.
Since 2015, land mines and other explosive remnants have on average killed or injured five people every day, according to UN data.
“An entire family was destroyed,” Oqab said about the fateful day more than three years ago, sitting outside his traditional beehive-style mud hut in his village in Hama province.
“Death awaited us from inside the earth,” he said, surrounded by his orphaned nephews.
“This was our destiny.”
The UN Mine Action Service said 15,000 people have been killed or injured by explosive devices in Syria since 2015.
This is a “huge number,” said Habibulhaq Javed, who heads Syria’s UNMAS team. “Currently, Syria is reporting the highest number of victims caused by explosive ordnance globally.”
Syria’s war is estimated to have killed almost 500,000 people and displaced millions since it began in 2011.
About 10.2 million people, or roughly half of all Syrians, live in areas contaminated with explosive devices, the UN says.
“Mines have a long lifespan,” said a Syrian army officer, who asked not to be named over security concerns.
They stay lethal even longer if they are kept inside casings, he told AFP during a de-mining training exercise organized by the military near Damascus.
Syrian authorities detonate ammunition and explosive remnants of war on a near-daily basis, especially in areas formerly held by rebel forces near the capital.
In Syria’s rebel-held north, it is rescue workers who take on the daunting task of sweeping for land mines and detonating them, in the absence of state support.
The White Helmets rescue group has even set up training and workshops to raise awareness on the dangers land mines pose.
Raed Hassoun of the White Helmets heads a de-mining center in Syria’s northwest that has neutralized about 24,000 explosive devices since 2016.
“We deal with unexploded ordnance according to one principle,” he told AFP.
“Your first mistake is your last.”
A lack of resources is depriving most of Syria’s towns and villages of vital mine clearance work.