Abu Mohammad and his family returned to their home in rural Idlib for the first time in five years, hoping to rebuild their lives after 13 years of civil war in Syria.
However, their hopes for a new life were shattered when Abu Mohammad triggered an explosive device hidden under a mattress in his living room.
“I was clearing rubble from our destroyed home when I heard a loud bang, and everything went black,” says Abu Mohammad.
He was rushed to a hospital, where his left leg was amputated below the knee. He now struggles to get around on crutches while waiting for a prosthetic.
“I’m in constant pain and can’t rebuild my home or work the land,” adds Abu Mohammad. “If I had known of the dangers, I wouldn’t have returned.”
Remnants of war
Syria’s war-torn terrain is scattered with explosive devices, like the one that maimed Abu Mohammad — an estimated 300,000 in total.
Bright red signs, concrete barriers, and spray-painted messages on the side of buildings are visible warnings of the threats lining vast swathes of land. And that’s just the ones identified. It is suspected that thousands more remain hidden and unidentified.
While cluster munitions, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), air-dropped bombs, and landmines are a huge problem across large parts of Syria, the northwest faces the most dire situation.
According to mapping by The HALO Trust, the Scotland-based organisation that trains local communities on removing these devices, the highest concentration of unexploded devices is in Aleppo and Idlib, along the old frontlines between opposition and regime forces. Stretching along hundreds of kilometres are potentially dangerous trenches and mounds of earth.
The forces of former Syrian President Bashar Assad uprooted thousands of olive trees, transforming the soil into barricades for artillery positions, and planted mines and booby traps, designed to cause maximum harm, knowing that the owners might one day return.
The threat for those returning home
More than 7 million people were displaced internally during the civil war, and nearly the same number fled abroad.
When the rebels seized the capital, Damascus, and Assad fled to Russia late last year, a window was seemingly opened for their return.
However, the journey of displaced Syrians coming back to their homes, many destroyed or stripped by regime forces, is fraught with risk.
The HALO Trust estimates that more than 400 civilians have been injured or killed across the northwest since the fall of Assad in early December last year.
The true number is likely far higher due to a lack of reporting in remote areas. There are almost daily occurrences of civilians killed or injured by landmines or unexploded ordnance (UXOs) in Idlib, according to figures given to The New Arab by the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC).
Explosives have been found near hospitals and schools, affecting access to medical care and education, and across agricultural lands, preventing farmers from growing crops to maintain their livelihoods.
A loss of access routes also restricts vital humanitarian assistance in a region beset by food shortages, crumbling infrastructure, and a healthcare system stretched beyond its capacity.
Children bearing the brunt
The impact of landmines and UXOs on children in Syria is devastating.
About 5 million children across Syria are living in areas contaminated with explosive ordnance, according to a January report by UNICEF, the children’s agency.
In December, 116 children were killed or injured, an average of nearly four per day, by explosive devices, the report said.
“Children are especially vulnerable because of their curiosity and limited understanding of the dangers,” says Najat El Hamri, regional director of Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a Manchester-based charity currently conducting mine clearance assessments across northwest Syria.
“Many incidents happen when children are playing, collecting scrap metal to sell, or helping their families with farming and herding livestock,” he adds.
The New Arab spoke to the grandfather of a 12-year-old boy who was badly injured by a landmine. The family had just returned to their home after five years in a refugee camp. The boy was looking after sheep when one of the animals got tangled in a tripwire. The blast killed 16 of the sheep and ripped the child’s stomach open. He survived. Other children have been killed, blinded, or lost limbs in similar incidents.
Children with life-changing injuries and disabilities often find it harder to access education, proper healthcare, and psychological support, while many face stigma and discrimination.
Overstretched NGOs
The HALO Trust and Syria Civil Defence, also known as The White Helmets, are reportedly the only two groups now working across a region of roughly 5.1 million people, including 2 million who have been displaced, to remove the explosive devices.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, both organisations have reported being overwhelmed with calls, mainly from returning Syrians. The HALO Trust’s emergency response has seen a tenfold increase in such calls.
Demining operations often lure people from surrounding villages eager for munitions and landmines to be cleared from their land, says Paul McCann, global head of communications at The HALO Trust.
“Many of the team’s trucks are also stopped passing through villages by groups of children who have found artillery shells and other munitions in abandoned houses and across fields,” says Paul.
With local NGOs overstretched, desperate Syrians are taking matters into their own hands. Some farmers are turning to ex-soldiers who received weapons and mine training during mandatory military service in the Syrian army before 2011 to clear the land.
According to sources at The HALO Trust and the SJAC, some are doing it voluntarily, while others are reportedly charging $15 per 1,000 sq metres of land. However, with a lack of specialised equipment and safety precautions, this often causes more harm than good.
“It’s dangerous and not systematic,” adds Paul. “Even if 39 out of 40 mines are cleared, the land still can’t be used.”
Need for a coordinated response
The return of displaced Syrians to areas without large-scale clearance puts lives at serious risk. Demining and clearing various areas remain the most urgent priorities. But this is costly and can take decades. Teams now working on the ground are mostly poorly equipped and understaffed and desperately require more funding for training, vehicles, and advanced equipment.
“Alongside increased funding for clearance operations, there is an urgent need to scale up explosive ordnance risk education — particularly for children — and strengthen local capacity for safe and effective clearance,” says Najat.
“Establishing a national body to coordinate mine action is also critical for prioritising and managing these efforts,” he adds.
With more Syrians expected to return home as the country begins to stabilise, landmines, UXOs, and other explosive remnants of war will continue to have devastating effects.
Without immediate and sustained investment, they will continue to endanger lives and obstruct Syria’s recovery.
Hannah Wallace is a London-based writer and researcher on armed violence and foreign affairs
