4 April marks the International Day for Mine Awareness.. What is the global rank of Syria in terms of mines’ danger?
On the International Day for Mine Awareness, the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets) said that its mission “focuses on preserving the lives of civilians, by removing unexploded ordnance and mines and raising their awareness of their danger, thus helping to care for and revitalize communities, and enable internally displaced persons to return to their homes, and children to reach their schools and places of play safely.”
The White Helmets organization continues its work in removing the mines left by the Assad regime and the remnants of the bombing resulting from the Russian bombing, which pose a danger until now due to their capability to explode.
The Civil Defense said that during the year 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, it responded to 20 explosions of remnants of war that left 15 people dead, including 8 children, while 27 people were injured. These numbers represent the incidents to which our teams responded only.
The Civil Defense stressed that the Unexploded Ordnance Removal (UXO) teams have managed, since the beginning of their work, to remove more than 23,000 munitions from the remnants of the bombing, including 21,000 cluster bombs, and provided awareness to thousands of civilians.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights, in its report issued today on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness, said that Syria is among the world’s worst countries for the number of mines planted in unknown locations, noting that 2,829 civilians, including 699 children, have been killed by mines in Syria since 2011 to date.
