Hama blast exposes Syria's deadly mine legacy as experts warn of decades-long threat

Syria faces decades of work to clear the landmines and unexploded munitions scattered across the country after 14 years of war, humanitarian experts have told The New Arab, warning that children and returning families will continue to pay the highest price unless mine-clearance efforts are rapidly expanded.

Their warning came after two children were injured in central Syria on Sunday when an unexploded remnant of war detonated as they were herding sheep in the village of Al-Ta'una in the southern Hama countryside.

The boys, aged nine and 12, were taken to Masyaf National Hospital for treatment, according to the Hama Health Directorate, with one reported to be in critical condition.

The blast is the latest in a growing number of incidents involving explosive remnants of war as displaced Syrians return to homes, farms and villages still contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance left behind by years of fighting.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), at least 329 civilians, including 65 children and 29 women, have been killed by landmines and unexploded ordnance since 8 December 2024, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Since the conflict began in 2011, the organisation has documented at least 3,799 civilian deaths caused by landmines and cluster munition remnants.

The latest explosion illustrates a crisis that is likely to persist long after the fighting itself has subsided.

"Syria has two distinct types of threat," Andrew Moore, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at humanitarian mine-clearance organisation HALO Trust, told The New Arab, pointing to both landmines, including victim-operated improvised explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance scattered across the country after years of conflict.

He said extensive minefields remained along former front lines, particularly in the northwest, where anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines were laid across agricultural land, orchards and olive groves, while unexploded artillery shells, mortars and grenades continue to lie beneath rubble and farmland after failing to detonate.

"People are coming back to their homes and their land and they don't know where the mines are," he said.

Moore said the return of displaced families to contaminated areas had driven the rise in casualties, as many sought to cultivate farmland, rebuild homes and restore basic infrastructure despite the risks.

"There are people who are going to areas where they know there might be landmines and they're taking risks because they want to reuse their land, they want to cultivate it," he said.

He added that years of conflict had fundamentally altered how many Syrians assessed danger.

"The people of Syria went through 14 years of hell," he said. "Their risk tolerance is very different to that that you and I may have... People are willing to take risks out of desperation."

Children remain among the most vulnerable because they are often drawn to unfamiliar objects while playing outdoors.

"Children come across things and they're curious, so naturally they're going to pick them up," he said.

Farmers, shepherds and construction workers also face heightened danger as they return to land and buildings still littered with explosive remnants of war, he added.

A 'decades long' task

For Bassam Al-Kuwatli, a Syrian politician and analyst, said clearing the country of landmines is not simply a humanitarian challenge but one of the greatest obstacles to Syria's reconstruction.

"Landmines and unexploded munitions are spread in many areas in Syria, especially in agricultural lands and among the ruins of homes, villages and towns, and they pose an extreme risk to the population, especially children," he told The New Arab.

Al-Kuwatli said clearing explosive remnants should be integrated with wider reconstruction efforts, requiring significant international funding, expertise and new technologies. He also argued that states which supplied munitions to the various parties during the conflict should contribute to removing the dangers they continue to pose.

Moore warned that while unexploded ordnance could often be dealt with relatively quickly if trained teams were available to respond, surveying and clearing Syria's extensive minefields would take years.

"Landmine clearance and landmine survey is going to take a long time," he said.

"What we need is trained and qualified teams across the country, so that when people identify something suspicious on their land, they can pick up the phone and someone can say, 'We'll be there, if not today, tomorrow.' Time is of the essence. If you tell people you'll be there in three weeks, they'll pick up that mortar or hand grenade because they want to plough their land or rebuild their home."

"We'll be finding ordnance for decades. Right now it's about having the large-scale capacity to help the people who are returning and rebuilding, so it gets down to a residual problem as quickly as possible," he added.