War ordnance casualties in May 2024 | Nearly 20 civilians, mostly children, killed and injured in explosions of war ordnance across Syria
SOHR renews its appeal to all relevant international bodies to urgently address the problem and remove old, unexploded ordnance from 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 13 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 May 2024; they are as follows:
- Deaths: Seven civilians, including four children.
- Wounded people: 12 civilians, including ten children.
The casualties are distributed regionally as follows:
- Regime-controlled areas: Four fatalities, including three children, and four injured civilians, including three children.
- SDF-held areas: One fatality and five injured civilians, including four children.
- HTS-held areas: A child was killed and three other children were injured.
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.
