Syrians returning home face deadly threat of landmines

Ayghad never thought that his dream of returning to his farmland could turn into a nightmare.

He fights back tears as he shows us a photo of his late father, smiling and surrounded by abundant olive trees on his land in Idlib province, northwest Syria.

The photograph was taken five years ago, a few months before forces linked to the previous government took over their village, near the city of Saraqeb.

The city was a strategic stronghold for Syrian opposition factions for years, before forces allied with the fallen Bashar al-Assad regime launched an offensive against rebels in Idlib province in late 2019.

Hundreds of thousands of residents fled their homes as Assad’s forces took control of other rebel strongholds in the northwest in early 2020.

Ayghad and his father were among those displaced.

“We had to leave because of the fighting and airstrikes,” Ayghad says, tears filling his eyes. “My father refused to leave. He wanted to die in his country.”

The father and son longed to return ever since. And when opposition forces regained control of his village in November 2024, his dream was about to come true. But disaster soon struck.

“We went to our land to harvest some olives,” explains Ayghad. “We went in two separate cars. My father took a different route to return to our home in Idlib city. I warned him not to do it, but he insisted. His car hit a land mine and exploded.”

Ayghad’s father died instantly on the spot. That day he not only lost his father, but he also lost his family’s main source of income. Its farmland, measuring 100,000 square meters, was full of 50-year-old olive trees. It has now been designated a dangerous minefield.

At least 144 people, including 27 children, have been killed by landmines and unexploded remnants of war since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in early December, according to the Halo Trust, an international organization specializing in mine clearance. land mines and other explosive devices.

The Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, told the BBC that many of the dead were farmers and landowners trying to return to their lands after the collapse of the Assad regime.

Unexploded remnants of war pose a serious threat to life in Syria. They are mainly divided into two categories. The first are unexploded ordnance (UXO), such as cluster bombs, mortars and grenades.

Hassan Talfah, who leads the White Helmets team clearing UXOS in northwestern Syria, explains that these devices are less difficult to remove because they are usually visible above the ground.

The White Helmets say that between November 27 and January 3, they removed some 822 UXO in northwestern Syria.

The biggest challenge, Talfah says, lies in the second category of munitions: landmines. He explains that the former government forces planted hundreds of thousands of them in various areas of Syria, mainly on farmland.

Most of the deaths recorded since the fall of the Assad regime occurred on former battlefronts, according to the White Helmets. Most of those killed were men.

Mr. Talfah took us to two huge fields riddled with landmines. Our car followed his down a long, narrow, winding dirt road. It is the only safe route to reach the fields.

On the sides of the road, children run around the area. Hassan tells us that they belong to families that have recently returned. But the dangers of mines surround them.

As we get out of the car, he points to a barrier in the distance.

“This was the last point that separated the areas under the control of government forces from those controlled by opposition groups” in Idlib province, he tells us.

He adds that Assad’s forces placed thousands of mines in the fields beyond the barrier, to stop the advance of rebel forces.

The fields around where we stand were once vital farmland. Today, they are all barren, with no visible vegetation except the green tips of landmines that we can see with binoculars.

With no experience in landmine clearance, the only thing the White Helmets can do for now is cordon off these fields and put up signs along their borders warning people to stay away.

They also spray paint warning messages on dirt barriers and houses around the edges of the fields. “Danger: landmines ahead,” they read.

They lead campaigns to raise awareness among locals about the dangers of entering contaminated land.

On the way back we meet a farmer in his 30s who has just returned. He tells us that part of the land belongs to his family.

“We couldn’t recognize any of it,” says Mohammed. “We used to plant wheat, barley, cumin and cotton. Now we can’t do anything. And as long as we can’t cultivate these lands, we will always be in bad economic conditions,” he adds, clearly frustrated.

The White Helmets say they have identified and cordoned off around 117 minefields in just over a month.

They are not the only ones working to remove mines and UXO, but there appears to be little coordination between the efforts of the various organizations.

There are no precise statistics on areas contaminated with UXO or landmines. But international organizations, such as the Halo Trust, have produced rough maps.

Halo Syria program director Damian O’Brien says a comprehensive study needs to be done for the country to understand the extent of the contamination. He estimates that around one million devices would need to be destroyed to protect the lives of civilians in Syria.

“Any Syrian army position is very likely to have some landmines around it as a defensive technique,” O’Brien says.

“In places like Homs and Hama, there are entire neighborhoods that have been almost completely destroyed. Anyone who enters those structures to assess them, whether to demolish them or rebuild them, must be aware that unexploded objects may already be there. whether bullets, cluster munitions, grenades or projectiles”.

The White Helmets found a treasure that could aid mine clearance efforts. In his office in the city of Idlib, Talfah shows us a stack of maps and documents abandoned by government forces.

They show locations, numbers and types of mines placed in different fields in northwestern Syria.

“We will hand over these documents to the agencies that will directly deal with landmines,” says Talfah.

But the local expertise currently available in Syria does not appear to be sufficient to combat the serious dangers that unexploded ordnance poses to civilian life.

O’Brien highlights that the international community needs to work together with Syria’s new government to improve the experience in the country.

“What we need from donors is funding so we can expand our capacity, which means employing more people, buying more machines and operating in a larger area,” he says.

As for Mr. Talfah, removing UXO and raising awareness of its dangers has become a personal mission. Ten years ago, he lost his own leg while cleaning a cluster bomb.

He says his injury and all the heartbreaking incidents he has witnessed with children and civilians impacted by UXO have only fueled his perseverance to continue working.

“I don’t want any civilian or team member to go through what I went through,” he says.

“I can’t describe the feeling I get when I clear a danger that threatens the lives of civilians.”

But until international and local efforts are coordinated to neutralize the danger of landmines, the lives of many civilians, especially children, will remain at risk.