Tackling a Deadly Legacy in Syria
When rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime in December, families quickly began returning home to areas near the front lines of the 14-year civil war — including in Idlib Province, in northwestern Syria.It's a Syrian instinct, says Ali Shaloom, director of the Shifa hospital in Idlib. 'Even if the house is destroyed, I would go and drink a cup of tea in front of my house just because I can.'
But the end of the fighting wasn't the end of the danger. In this area, Assad forces planted landmines in fields, in buildings, even in rubble, and other unexploded ordnance also lingers. Mr. Shaloom estimates it puts one to five civilians in Shifa hospital daily.One mine wounded Jaber Siham Mohammed Mattar, 12. It exploded, he says, as he tried to free a sheep he was herding from barbed wire.
'I didn't feel anything,' he recalls. He woke with a broken leg, internal bleeding and wounds to his intestines, arms, back and legs. According to the Landmine Monitor, which tracks global landmine use and casualties, Syria last year had the second-highest number of casualties due to mines worldwide. While exact statistics are difficult to confirm, HALO, a nonprofit that clears landmines and explosives, estimates that about 340 people have been killed across Syria and another 500 wounded since the overthrow of the Assad regime.
It says it's receiving 10 times the number of calls it did before the regime fell. Once the HALO team has found a device, the safest way to get rid of it is a controlled explosion, triggered by a small charge on a long cord.
Devices that aren't fused, and are therefore safe to move, are taken to a demolition site in the middle of a field. But if a mine is armed, it has to be blown up where it sits. Unexploded ordnance poses the most danger to young men, according to HALO. To earn money for their families, young men clear rubble, clean fields and gather scrap metal and wood, all high-risk activities.
They are also more likely to travel for work, potentially stepping on mines on their way. Children suffer, too. While playing outside, they mistake unexploded shells or other devices for toys, picking them up and throwing them around. 'A number of these items are brightly colored, shiny objects with interesting shapes, which children would be naturally drawn to,' says Nicholas Torbet, HALO's deputy regional director for the Middle East.
Yousef al-Nayef, 10, was wounded by a mine while playing with friends in a field in Harshbenin village. Khalid Hussein, 25, said the community had forced former regime soldiers to help clear his fields: 'They even brought the military leader who planted the mines.' He then returned to planting cumin. But the soldiers hadn't spotted a rocket nearby.
Mohammed Sheikh Mohammed, the leader of the demining team at HALO, tried to discourage Mr. Hussein from farming until the area was properly searched. 'If 90 percent of the mines are removed, and 10 percent are left, it is unsafe.' 'People don't wait. They need to use their lands, homes, and pastures, and this is what causes most of the accidents.' Several families said they had encountered explosives after trusting reassurances from local farmers or security forces.Aisha Aboud, 47, said her family returned to a former frontline town, only for her son, Kanaan Muhamad Kanaan, 18, to touch a tripwire while collecting firewood. It detonated two minesin trees, which inflicted brain injuries.
'There are mines everywhere — on trees, on the ground, inside the houses, and all around them,' Aisha Aboud said. 'It drives you crazy.' Iman Ibrahim, 38, knows the risks intimately. She said she and her family stayed off their land in Kfar Amma village for six years during the war. After hearing that mines had been removed, they went to gather olives.
'I heard the sound of an explosion, but I thought it was a nearby factory,' she said. Instead, a land mine had killed her husband and daughter. Abed Kontar, a spokesman for the authorities in Idlib, acknowledged that local fighters had done 'makeshift' clearance but said that the defense ministry was now deploying specialist crews.
Still, Ms. Ibrahim, and others in the community, remain uneasy. 'We are very afraid of the land now. We won't take any step on the land again.'
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