Syria’s postwar recovery is being slowed by a danger that does not announce itself: mines and unexploded weapons scattered through homes, fields, roads and ruined neighborhoods are killing or injuring one person about every six hours, according to the HALO Trust, a mine-clearance charity working in the country.
The threat has grown more visible since the December 2024 fall of former President Bashar Assad, when displaced Syrians began returning to damaged towns and villages. Families seeking firewood, farmers returning to land and construction crews clearing rubble have encountered explosive remnants from nearly 15 years of conflict.
The United Nations Mine Action Service and humanitarian organizations say at least 2,375 people have been killed or injured in such incidents since the change of government, including more than 850 children. The actual toll is believed to be higher because many accidents in remote areas go unreported.
A preliminary Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor report found that Syria recorded the world’s highest number of casualties from land mines and explosive remnants of war last year, with about 1,600 victims.
“This year has seen almost 700 casualties from explosive accidents,” Simon Jackson, the HALO Trust’s Syria program manager, said. He said roughly one-third of the victims had died and about one-third were children.
More than 60% of incidents have occurred on agricultural land or grazing areas, Jackson said. That makes the crisis more than a security problem: It limits food production, delays rebuilding and discourages families from returning permanently.
“Unexploded ordnance prevents people from rebuilding their homes, rebuilding their businesses. It prevents farmers from re-sowing crops,” Jackson said.
Clearance teams, working with Syria’s new authorities, face an immense task. In former front-line districts, destroyed buildings contain layers of metal, shrapnel and ammunition that make detection difficult. In many areas, minefield maps are incomplete or nonexistent.
A Syrian Defense Ministry engineering official said operations are prioritizing populated areas, roads and farmland, but new contaminated sites are discovered daily. Since the new government took power, 47 soldiers have been killed and more than 90 injured during mine-clearance work, according to the ministry.
Jackson warned that even doubling the sector’s capacity would leave Syria facing at least a decade of work, and possibly two or three. For Syrians returning home, peace remains dangerously unfinished.