War ordnance casualties in January 2023 | 51 civilians, including 30 children, ki*lled and injured across Syria

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 of 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 January 2022; they are as follows:

 

• Deaths: 22 civilians, including a woman and 15 children.

 

• Wounded people: 29 civilians, including three women and 15 children.

 

The casualties are distributed regionally as follows:

 

• Areas controlled by Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions in Idlib: Three fatality, including a child, and three injured civilians, including a child.

 

• Regime-controlled areas: 16 fatalities, including 11 children and a woman, and 14 injured civilians, including seven children and two women.

 

• “Euphrates Shield” area in east Aleppo countryside: One fatality, a child, and six injured civilians: a woman and five children.

 

• SDF-held areas: Two fatality; two children, and six injured civilians, including two children.

 

Here are further details:

 

• January 6: A child displaced from Abu Al-Duhur city in the eastern countryside of Idlib was killed by the explosion of an old projectile while searching for the remains of potatoes in farmland in Zardana town in the northern countryside of Idlib.

 

• January 11: A child was injured when an unexploded ordnance exploded while playing next to his house in Ihsam town, south of Idlib.

 

• January 11: Three displaced people of one family, a woman, and two of her sons, were seriously injured by the explosion of a heater in their tent in a makeshift camp in Barshaya village in the eastern countryside of Aleppo. The injured people were taken to the hospital for treatment.

 

• January 11: Four olive workers were injured by the explosion of an old landmine in the farmland of Zilin village in the northern Hama countryside. The victims were transferred to Al-Hayyat hospital in Mahrada.

 

• January 11: A child was killed, and his three siblings were injured, by the explosion of an unexploded projectile in a heater in their home in Khirbet Nada, east of Azaz city in the eastern countryside of Aleppo. The injured children were taken to the hospital for treatment.

 

• January 14: Five members of one family, a father, a mother and three children, were killed, and two women were seriously injured in the explosion of an old landmine while collecting stones in Dubai village in Jabal Kawkab in the eastern countryside of Al-Hasakah, in regime-held areas. The injured women were taken to the hospital for treatment.

 

• January 15: Two children were killed, and two others were injured when an old landmine, planted earlier by ISIS, exploded in Duwair Al-Sharqi town which is under the control of the regime forces and Iranian-backed militias in Al-Bokamal countryside, east of Deir Ezzor.

 

• January 17: A 10-year-old boy was killed by the explosion of an old landmine while herding sheep in Al-Baghouz town in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

 

• January 20: Two civilians were killed and others were injured due to the explosion of an unexploded object in a scrap yard in Al-Mash-had neighbourhood in regime-controlled areas in Aleppo city. The injured people were taken to the hospital for treatment.
• January 22: Two children sustained various injuries in the explosion of an old landmine near the cultural centre in Yabroud city in western Qalamoun in Rif Dimashq. The two children were taken to the hospital.

 

• January 22: A 13-year-old boy was killed and two others sustained serious injuries in the explosion of an old landmine while they were herding cattle near the outskirts of the desert, near Ayyash warehouses which host a training camp of Iranian-backed militias in western Deir Ezzor.

 

• January 23: A child died of the injury he sustained when an old landmine exploded yesterday near the cultural centre in Yabroud city in western Al-Qalamoun in Rif Dimashq.

 

• January 23: A young man was killed and another was injured seriously in the explosion of an old landmine, while they were wandering on the outskirts of Yabroud city in western Qalamoun in Rif Dimashq. The injured man was taken to the hospital.

 

• January 23: A child was killed by the explosion of an old landmine in Al-Marashidah town in SDF-controlled areas in the south-eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

 

• January 23: A child was killed in the explosion of an unexploded projectile, while he was setting fire for heating near a bread bakery in Al-Jourah neighbourhood in Deir Ezzor city which is dominated by regime forces and Iranian-backed militias.

 

• January 24: Four civilians were injured, one of whom had his leg amputated, due to the explosion of a landmine of war remnants in Al-Toaan village in Manbij countryside eastern of Aleppo, where they were taken to the specialized hospital in Manbij to receive proper medication.

 

• January 25: Two children were injured by shrapnel due to the explosion of a landmine of ISIS’ war remnants, in Al-Shayer town in the countryside of Al-Shadady town in Al-Hasakah countryside.

 

• According to reliable SOHR sources, the children were taken to Al-Shadady hospital to receive proper medication.

 

• January 28: Two little siblings from Al-Mayadeen city, which is under the control of the Iranian-backed militias and regime forces in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, due to the explosion of a metal object of old ordnance. The victims were transferred to Al-Salam Hospital in Al-Mayadeen city for treatment.

 

• January 29: A 14-year-old child was killed by the explosion of an old landmine, while herding sheep in Bashmarah village in Sherawa district of Afrin countryside in areas where Kurdish and regime forces are deployed in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

 

• January 29: A farmer was killed by the explosion of an old landmine, while he was working in a farm near Al-Laj town in Sahel Al-Roj western Idlib countryside , within the “Putin – Erdogan” area.

 

• January 30: A child from Zimrin village near Al-Sanamayn city, north of Daraa, was killed and other children were injured by the explosion of an old projectile, while playing on agricultural land.

 

• January 31: A civilian was killed and two others were injured, due to the explosion of a landmine, while they were dismantling the landmine in Balyon village in Jabal Al-Zawiyah in southern Idlib countryside, where the injured people were taken to the hospital to receive proper medication.

 

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 calls 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.