Nearly half are children | SOHR documents 319 casualties in explosions of old ordnance in all zones of influence across Syria in the first half of 2022

War ordnance, such as old landmines and unexploded IEDs, bombs, shells, projectiles, grenades, etc. which are everywhere in Syria, continues to pose a threat to the safety and lives of innocent Syrians. These explosive remnants of war (ERW), which had been planted by military formations across the entire Syrian geography for over 11 years, have tragically killed and injured a large number Syrian people.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has monitored and tracked the issue of explosive remnants of war and documented all the casualties in explosions of old landmines and unexploded ordnance across Syria in the first six months of 2022; they are as follows:

 

• Deaths: 127 civilians, including 54 children and ten women.

 

• Wounded people: 192 civilians, including 99 children and 11 women.

 

Hear is a regional distribution of fatalities:

 

-Regime-controlled areas: 91 civilians, including 37 children and eight women, and they are as follows:

 

• Hama: 28 civilians, including two women and seven children.

 

• Daraa: 21 civilians, including four women and ten children.

 

• Rif Dimashq: 17 civilians, including a woman and nine children.

 

• Homs: Eight civilians, including two children.

 

• Deir Ezzor: Seven civilians, including a woman and four children.

 

• Aleppo: Six civilians, including five children.

 

• Damascus: Four civilians.

 

 

-Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: 25 civilians, including 13 children and two women, and they are as follows:

 

• Aleppo: Eight civilians, including five children.

 

• Deir Ezzor: Seven civilians, including two women and four children.

 

• Al-Raqqah: Five civilians, including a child.

 

• Al-Hasakah: Five civilians including three children.

 

 

-Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: Seven civilians, including three children, all of whom were killed in Idlib province.

 

 

-Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: Four civilians, including a child, all of whom were killed in “Olive Branch” area in Aleppo province.

 

 

A descending monthly distribution of fatalities of explosions of old ordnance and unexploded projectiles across Syria in the first six months of 2022 is as follows:

 

-February: 33 civilians, including two women and 16 children.

 

• Regime controlled areas: 14 civilians, including two women and six children.

 

• Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: Three civilians, including a child.

 

• Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: A child.

 

• Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: A man.

 

-March: 29 civilians, including 12 children.

 

• Regime controlled areas: 22 civilians, including six children.

 

• Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: Four children.

 

• Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: A child.

 

• Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: A child.

 

-April: 19 civilians, including two women and eight children.

 

• Regime controlled areas: 11 civilians, including five children.

 

• Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: Seven civilians, including two women and three children.

 

• Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: A man.

 

• Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: No fatalities were documented in April.

 

-May: 19 civilians, including two women and eight children.

 

• Regime controlled areas: 14 civilians, including two women and six children.

 

• Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: Three civilians, including a child.

 

• Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: A child.

 

• Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: A man.

 

-June: 16 civilians, including four women and eight children.

 

• Regime controlled areas: 14 civilians, including four women and six children.

 

• Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: Two children.

 

• Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: No fatalities were documented in June.

 

• Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: No fatalities were documented in June.

 

-January: 11 civilians, including two children.

 

• Regime controlled areas: Six civilians, including a child.

 

• Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: Three civilians, including a child.

 

• Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: Two civilians.

 

• Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: No fatalities were documented in January.

 

 

SOHR renews its call on all international organisations to work on removing unexploded war ordnance across Syrian immediately and to address the problem appropriately, especially since all warring parties throughout Syria continue to plant IEDs and landmines.

 

SOHR also call upon international organisations to adopt a strategy to raise the residents’ awareness about the threats of old ordnance which may have been planted in abandoned buildings as well.