Unexploded landmines continue to kill and maim indiscriminately in Syria’s northeast

After the defeat of Daesh, the SDF and its international allies were left with the daunting task of clearing landmines and other unexploded ordnance from the battlefield so that families could return to their land. (Ali Ali)
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Updated 03 April 2022
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Unexploded landmines continue to kill and maim indiscriminately in Syria’s northeast

  • Security concerns and lack of funding keep region awash in unexploded munitions, years after war ended
  • International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is observed every year on April 4

QAMISHLI, Syria: Three years ago, the world watched as the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS battled the remnants of Daesh in the extremist group’s last territorial holdout of Baghouz.

Having once controlled an area the size of England, the terror group had been forced to retreat into an area covering just a few hundred square meters, where they dug in behind razor wire, earthworks and fields laid with thousands of landmines.

When the fighting was finally over and the last Daesh positions had been cleared, SDF morale skyrocketed and there were days of celebrations across the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

But after the guns had fallen silent, the SDF and its international allies were left with the daunting task of clearing landmines and other unexploded ordnance from the battlefield so that families could return to their land.

Years later, the work continues, hampered by security threats posed by Daesh holdouts, a lack of funding from international aid agencies, and the political complexities of the region.




An expat de-miner, near Jurniya in Syria. (Ali Ali)

On Dec. 8, 2005, the UN General Assembly declared that an International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action would be observed on April 4 each year.

Since the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, opened for signatures in 1997, 164 countries have ratified or acceded to it. In 2014, the signatories agreed to the complete the clearance of all landmines by 2025. However, these indiscriminate weapons continue to be used by state and non-state actors alike in conflict zones.

From Daesh’s final strongholds in Deir ez-Zor and its former de-facto capital of Raqqa, to areas such as Kobane, which was liberated as long ago as 2015, roads, fields and even residential buildings are still dotted with landmines that continue to claim lives and limbs.

The task of clearing these explosive remnants of war has fallen to the Roj Mine Control Organization, a non-governmental humanitarian organization working in coordination with the Northeast Syria Mine Action Center, the de-facto umbrella group for mine-clearing efforts in Syria’s autonomous northeast.

Local and international agencies say they have collectively removed about 35,000 anti-personnel and anti-vehicle landmines throughout the region but thousands more remain.




Disarmed testing mine, near Jurniya in Syria. (Ali Ali)

At every checkpoint on the main highways between Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor, signs are posted that show pictures of various types of mines and explosive ordnance alongside a message in giant red letters that warns: “Danger! Stay away! Don’t touch! Report quickly! Spread awareness! Protect yourself from the threat of mines, remnants of war, and suspicious and dangerous areas. Don’t go exploring. If you see something suspicious, tell the concerned authorities.”

From all accounts, such warnings are amply justified.

“I was 9 or 10 years old,” Omar Al-Omar, who is now 13, told Arab News at his home in Raqqa. “I was playing in front of our house when a mine exploded. I was in the hospital for two months and 10 days. I was unable to move around.”

FASTFACT

* International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, on April 4, aims to raise awareness about landmines and progress toward their eradication.

Both of Omar’s legs had to be amputated. He has regained some mobility thanks to prosthetic limbs that were provided by the Hope Makers Center in Raqqa, a charitable organization that has since had to suspend many of its services as a result of lack of funding. Someday, he said, he hopes to become a doctor.

The Social Affairs and Labor Committee of Raqqa Civil Council has documented about 2,500 individuals who, like Omar, were maimed by landmines in the city alone. Council worker Amira Hussein believes the true figure is much higher.




The scarred arm of 16-year-old Ahmed, wounded by a mine in October last year, in Kobane. (Ali Ali)

“If you look around Raqqa, on every street you will see a man, woman or child with a missing limb,” she told Arab News, scrolling through photos on her laptop of local children with missing limbs and scars from burns.

“Even in 2022, the issue of mines is still relevant. People thought that once Raqqa was liberated their lives would return to normal. But when they went back, mines went off in their homes.”

Much of the work carried out by local and international mine-disposal agencies has been focused on Raqqa, as the city was heavily mined during the years from 2014 to 2017 when it was under Daesh control.

Although crude improvised explosive devices left behind by retreating Daesh militants are still frequently discovered in the city, the bulk of the mine-disposal work is taking place in the countryside.

“There were a lot of mine explosions in the beginning but now there are far fewer,” Yusuf, a team administrator at the Raqqa Internal Security Forces’ Explosives Ordnance Disposal Unit, told Arab News.

“We maybe see mines only 1 percent of the time. Our team has cleared 80 percent of the city of Raqqa of mines.”




A Raqqa Internal Security Forces (Asayish) EOD team member in Syria. (Ali Ali)

However, not all of the explosive devices cleared by the Raqqa EODU are remnants of the battle to liberate the city. Daesh sleeper cells continue to operate here, planting explosives along roadsides and in buildings.

The 60-member Raqqa EODU team can respond to a report of an explosive device in less than 10 minutes, said Yusuf. This efficiency and dedication comes at a cost, however: 19 of its members have been killed in the line of duty.

While clearly highly dangerous, mine-disposal work can also be tedious and time-consuming. An international aid agency operating in Raqqa, which asked not to be identified for security reasons, has been systematically clearing the Tal Othman to Jurniya road for months now, often progressing just a few meters each day.

Locals said they watched Daesh militants lay mines along the road for seven months before the area was finally liberated in 2017. After three weeks of painstaking work, mine-disposal experts were able to locate and destroy two anti-tank mines.

Rocks painted red, marking the boundaries of safe areas, line the edge of the road where the disposal crews work, while rocks painted white denote safe paths. Once the road has been made completely safe and repaved, communities in Raqqa’s western countryside will once again have access to markets in Manbij city.

“We are making a sacrifice for the future,” one foreign mine-disposal expert working at the site told Arab News, his face obscured by a protective visor. He cannot be named for security reasons.

“The last time I went on holiday, two children died in Raqqa. This stays with you.”




De-mining markers, near Shaddadi in Syria. (Ali Ali)

As is the case in Raqqa, parts of Deir ez-Zor in the east of the country are also plagued by the explosive remnants of Daesh’s last stand. Here the group’s sleeper cells, operating close to the border with Iraq, continue to pose a threat to landmine-disposal teams.

The Monitoring and Observation Desk, an independent conflict observatory in northeastern Syria, documented 15 attacks on local security forces by Daesh remnants in the Deir ez-Zor region in February alone, two of which were carried out using landmines.

Besides the difficult task of removing and destroying mines, local and international agencies operating in Deir ez-Zor also work to raise community awareness of the threat, erect warning signs, and distribute literature about the threats posed by explosive remnants and how people can stay safe.

Agencies such as the Roj Mine Control Organization work directly with farming communities and schools to teach agricultural workers and children — two of the groups most at risk — how to recognize explosive devices and what to do if they stumble upon one.

The RMCO said it has conducted more than 1,400 mine-awareness sessions, during which it has spoken to about 17,700 people across northern and eastern Syria. Meanwhile, its mine-clearance teams claim to have removed more than 19,000 devices.

Although the RMCO operatives work to established international standards, they often lack the heavy armored machinery and personal protective equipment used by better-funded foreign agencies, making their work slower and at times much more dangerous.

The same is true in the far north of Syria, close to the border with Turkey, where the countryside is still littered with landmines and other explosives left over from the battle to liberate Kobane in 2015.

In a small village to the west of the city, a pair of Russian helicopters buzz overhead. On the brow of a nearby hill, a Turkish military post looks down from the imposing border wall.

Mohammed Sheikhmous, a farmer who lives just 50 meters from the border, lost one of his sons to a landmine.




Stephen Goose, director of Human Rights Watch's Arms Division. (AFP/File Photo)

“My son went out with the sheep and stepped on a mine,” Sheikhmous told Arab News. “There was nothing left of him. We had to gather his body parts.”

Before that incident, another of his sons had suffered serious injuries from a landmine blast, he said, which put the boy in hospital for two months and left him with permanent scars on his arms and legs.

In 2021 alone, 12 people in villages around Kobane lost their lives to mines, half of them children.

Because of the political complexities in this part of Syria, it is difficult for landmine-clearance teams to get permission to gain access and work. Agencies must somehow find a way to coordinate with local militias, Syrian regime forces, and the Russian and Turkish forces that have jointly patrolled the countryside around Kobane since October 2019 as part of a “de-escalation” agreement.

Until such complexities are resolved, farming communities straddling the border wil be compelled to live with this invisible, yet lethal threat.

“This is a burden that will never end, even with the end of the war,” said Hussein, the Raqqa Civil Council worker. “The mines that were planted are still there.

“Many people are still facing these threats. They can’t go home because they never know at what moment their lives will be threatened.”


Lebanese army seizes Captagon pills, equipment at Syrian border

Updated 7 sec ago
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Lebanese army seizes Captagon pills, equipment at Syrian border

CAIRO: The Lebanese Army seized large quantities of Captagon pills in a raid on a manufacturing plant on the Lebanese-Syrian border, the Lebanese News Agency reported on Monday. 

An army unit, supported by a patrol from the Directorate of Intelligence, seized large quantities of pills in addition to equipment for producing Captagon, along with raw materials used in drug manufacturing. 


Gaza civil defense says 19 killed in Israeli strikes

Updated 17 min 24 sec ago
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Gaza civil defense says 19 killed in Israeli strikes

GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said two Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory’s north early Monday.
“Our teams found 15 martyrs and 10 wounded, mostly children and women, after an Israeli strike on three apartments” northwest of Gaza City, said the agency’s spokesman, Mahmud Bassal, adding that four other people were killed and four wounded in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya city in the northwest.


Yemen’s Houthi rebels blame US for fresh strikes

Updated 05 May 2025
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels blame US for fresh strikes

  • The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians

SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday blamed Washington for around 10 strikes in and around the capital Sanaa, as the United States pursues its campaign against the Iran-backed force.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said two US strikes had targeted Arbaeen street in the capital, another the airport road, having earlier reported two strikes it blamed on “American aggression” and a series of prior bombardments on Sanaa.
The Houthi administration’s health ministry said 14 people were wounded in the Sawan neighborhood, according to Saba.
An AFP journalist heard loud explosions in the capital, which has been controlled by the Houthis since 2014.
The bombardment follows a Houthi strike against Washington’s ally Israel, which hit the perimeter of the country’s main airport on Sunday.
Eight people were wounded in US strikes on Sanaa in late April, according to the rebels, who also reported strikes in other parts of the country, including their stronghold Saada in the north.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.
But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes starting March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor Donald Trump.
Since March, the United States says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
 

 


Sultan of Oman reaffirms ties during visit to Algeria

Updated 04 May 2025
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Sultan of Oman reaffirms ties during visit to Algeria

  • The Omani leader is on a two-day visit to Algeria
  • The delegation includes foreign and defense ministers

LONDON: The Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tarik met Algerian President Abdelamdjid Tebboune on Sunday to discuss ties between their nations.

At the sultan's residence in the capital, Algiers, the leaders affirmed their commitment to enhancing relations to serve their countries' mutual interests, the Oman News Agency reported.

The Omani leader is on a two-day visit to Algeria. On Sunday, Tebboune received him at Houari Boumediene International Airport for an official reception.

Several ministers and officials are in the Omani delegation, including Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al-Said, Deputy Prime Minister for Defense Affairs, and Sayyid Badr Hamad Al-Busaidi, Minister of Foreign Affairs.


Can Iraq’s Development Road project become its gateway to prosperity?

Updated 05 May 2025
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Can Iraq’s Development Road project become its gateway to prosperity?

  • Once a hub of global trade, Iraq aims to reclaim role with a $20 billion project connecting the Gulf to Europe by road, rail, and pipeline
  • Experts say ambitious infrastructure project could prove transformative if it can overcome the political, logistical and financial hurdles

LONDON: Under the Abbasid Caliphate, some 1,200 years ago, Baghdad sat at a crossroads between continents, a global confluence of commerce, culture and learning, becoming one of the most important cities on the Silk Road — the vast trade network that linked Asia to Europe.

It is that same strategic positioning that the modern-day government of Iraq hopes to recreate through a mega-project that could transform the nation’s fortunes after decades of war, sanctions and underdevelopment, and in the process reshape international trade.

The Development Road scheme aims to connect the Arabian Gulf to the Mediterranean with a 1,200 km network of roads, railways and energy links from across Iraq to neighboring Turkiye.

The project is expected to cost up to $20 billion and will be constructed in partnership with Turkiye and with backing from Qatar as well as the UAE.

Turkey's Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, UAE's Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Qatar's Minister of Transport Jassim bin Saif bin Ahmed al-Sulaiti, and Iraq's Transport Minister Razzaq Muhaibas Al-Saadawi applaud together during their meeting for the signing of the "Development Road" framework agreement on security, economy, and development in Baghdad on April 22, 2024.

If successful, it could carve out a new future for Iraq, diversifying its economy and raising substantial revenues. It would help export the country’s plentiful energy resources, while also consolidating relations with Turkiye and the Gulf states.

But the project faces several challenges, both within Iraq and the wider region. Corruption, interstate rivalries, political instability and conflict could derail the scheme, as could competition from other trade corridors in the region.

Failure would raise uncomfortable questions about whether Iraq can ever move beyond its chaotic past to build the kind of country its people desperately seek.

“The Development Road project is one of the most important infrastructure projects initiated in Iraq since the formation of the modern Iraqi state in the 1920s,” Mohammed Hussein, a member of the Iraqi Economists Network, told Arab News.

Volunteers of the "army of Al-Quds (Jerusalem)", with pictures of their president Saddam Hussein on their chests during a military parade in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on February 4, 2003. (AFP)

The idea for a new trade corridor through Iraq has been around for decades. In the 1980s, the concept was branded the “dry canal” — tipped as an alternative to the Suez in Egypt. But wars and sanctions on Saddam Hussein’s regime prevented any progress.

In response to public outrage over Iraq’s continued economic malaise — especially given the size of its oil reserves — the concept has since re-emerged as part of a broader development agenda, helped along by a period of relative stability and improving relations with Turkiye.

The Development Road was launched in 2023 after a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani (C-R) and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-L) attend the signing of the "Development Road" framework agreement on security, economy, and development in Baghdad on April 22, 2024. (AFP)

Central to the plan is the Grand Faw Port now under construction on Iraq’s slither of shallow coastline at the head of the Arabian Gulf. When completed, Iraqi officials say the port will have 100 berths, surpassing Jebel Ali in Dubai as the Middle East’s largest container port.

Grand Faw will connect to a network of highways and railways running through major Iraqi cities including Basra, Karbala, Baghdad and Mosul, all the way to the Turkish border at Faysh Khabur.

From there, they will connect to Turkiye’s networks, linking up with its major Mediterranean ports and its land border with Europe. Oil and gas pipelines are also planned to follow the route, linking Basra’s oil fields to Turkiye’s Ceyhan energy hub.

An Iraqi sails in the Shatt al-Arab river across from the Nahr Bin Omar oilfield in Iraq's southern province of Basra on July 18, 2022. (AFP)

The scheme, which will be built in three stages up to 2050, would see industrial areas constructed along its route. However, much of the project still remains in the planning phase.

In April last year, Turkiye, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar signed a joint cooperation agreement on the project during a long-awaited visit by Erdogan to Baghdad.

“The project aims to create a sustainable economy bridging east and west,” Al-Sudani’s office said, adding that it would “establish a new competitive transport route, and bolster regional economic prosperity.”

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani. (AFP)

A planned visit by the Iraqi prime minister to Turkiye on May 8 is expected to advance the plan further.

If successful, the project would bring numerous benefits to Iraq, diversifying its economy away from oil and gas and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. According to Hussein of the Iraqi Economists Network, the project could generate $4 billion per year in customs revenues.

“The Development Road is likely to enhance Iraq’s role in global trade and directly revitalize its non-oil economic sectors such as trade, transportation and tourism,” he said.

IN NUMBERS:

99% Oil’s share of Iraq’s exports over the past decade.

$20 billion Estimated cost of Development Road project.

(Sources: World Bank & media)

There would also be a major boost to Iraq’s strategic positioning, strengthening economic and security relations with Turkiye, the Gulf states and Europe.

“From a global perspective, the Development Road is extremely important for Iraq, as it positions the country as a land bridge between Asia and Europe,” said Hussein.

“It aims to serve as a new route for global trade from the Arab Gulf to Europe, transforming Iraq into a transit hub similar to the Suez Canal.”

Iraq's planned Development Road is envisioned to position the country as a land bridge between Asia and Europe. (Map Courtesy of Google)

Renad Mansour, a senior Iraq research fellow at Chatham House, believes the project represents a clear statement of Iraq’s ambition to put decades of chaos behind it and become a more influential power in the region.

The government sees the project “as an opportunity for Iraq, after years of conflict and dependencies, to start to regain some traction in the region by becoming an important central hub,” he told Arab News.

Iraq’s geographic position would become a “potential point of leverage” that could rebuild its regional position, he added.

Street vendors push their cart selling sweets across Al-Senak bridge over the Tigris river in central Baghdad during a dust storm on April 10, 2025. (AFP)

The Development Road also offers substantial benefits to Turkiye.

Ankara “views this project as a strategic opportunity to boost its regional role, enhance its trade ties with regional actors and solidify the economic connectivity in the region,” Sinem Cengiz, a Turkish political analyst, told Arab News.

It also marks a sea change in Turkiye-Iraq relations, which have long been dominated by border security, Turkiye’s conflict with Kurdish militants and control of water resources.

“From the Turkish side, it is an opportunity to transform its relations with Iraq from a security-oriented perspective to an economically integrated relationship,” said Cengiz.

If successful, Development Road project could diversify Iraq’s economy, increase energy exports and strengthen ties with regional powers. (AFP file)

“This project provides a framework for long-term mutual dependency and a rare chance for Turkiye and Iraq to compartmentalize, and institutionalize their relations.”

There are, however, an array of challenges and potential obstacles that could delay or scuttle the project altogether.

The biggest risks come from within Iraq itself. Since the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq has experienced a devastating civil war, a savage conflict with Daesh extremists and the emergence of powerful Iran-backed militias.

An image uploaded on June 14, 2014 on the jihadist website Welayat Salahuddin Daesh (ISIS) militants leading dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them. (AFP)

“The Iraqi state remains fragmented and corruption is still a big challenge,” said Mansour. “There’s all sorts of challenges, political and security-wise, that would need to be addressed to ensure the sustainability of such a grand vision.”

The country still ranks poorly on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, although there has been gradual improvement since 2015. This, along with other bureaucratic obstacles, means ensuring efficient project management is a significant concern.

“Iraq’s reputation for corruption, weak law enforcement, bureaucratic inefficiency, and an underdeveloped business environment will certainly increase the project’s cost and duration,” said Hussein.

The nature of the project means it will have to be built through many regions of the country, each with its own ethnic, religious and political mix.

“The road will go through several different territories where the central government doesn’t have as much authority and you have different armed groups and different sides who would need to be part of this process or could turn into spoilers,” said Mansour.

The route avoids most of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in the north, apart from the last 20 km where it reaches the border with Turkiye, potentially creating new rifts with the country’s large Kurdish minority.

A view shows Iraq's northeastern city of Sulaymaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region at sunset. (AFP)

The Kurdistan Regional Government has accused the federal government of deliberately bypassing the territory and excluding Kurdish areas that would otherwise have benefited from the scheme, said Hussein.

“The project has raised concerns among KRG leaders, who are demanding it be designed to pass through at least two of the KRG provinces, Irbil and Duhok,” he said.

The federal government, however, denies the KRG’s claim, insisting the current route is based on cost-efficiency.

There are also major external challenges to the project.

Grand Faw Port is located just a few kilometers from Kuwait’s long-proposed Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, which is also under construction. The projects have exacerbated a long-running dispute over the maritime border between the two states and raised tensions over competition between the two ports.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani gives a speech during the ceremony of the beginning of the handover of the Grand Faw Port's five berths from the implementing Korean company, in the southern Basra province, on November 7, 2024, as the project approaches full completion. (AFP)

“To prevent tensions and avoid creating a sense of insecurity, Kuwait must be somehow integrated into the process,” said Cengiz. “This would make the project more regionalized and help build a more stable environment for cooperation.”

Iran, which has huge influence in Iraq, particularly through the militias it funds, is also watching the scheme warily. Some argue the corridor could benefit Iran, but could also pose significant competition to its Gulf ports and plans for its own trade route linking Asia to Europe.

Then there is the rivalry with existing trade routes, most notably the Suez Canal, which is vital to Egypt’s economy. Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthis have dramatically reduced shipping through the waterway, increasing the cost of transporting goods from Asia to Europe.

Iraqi officials claim the Development Road will offer a much faster route from Asia to Europe than the Suez, even without the current shipping disruption.

Another major corridor through the Middle East is also being developed between India, the Gulf states, and Europe, and was set to include Israel and Jordan. Known as the “India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor,” or IMEC, the project has won the backing of the US. However, the war in Gaza has presented challenges.

Map of the planned IMEC connection. (Wikimedia Commons: ecfr.eu)

IMEC was viewed by some as a response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative — the vast set of infrastructure projects launched in 2013 to create land and maritime networks between Asia and Europe.

China has not yet committed to providing financial backing to the Development Road but has hinted that the project could be integrated into its BRI, raising a possible point of contention with the US.

Despite these many challenges, there is widespread support within Iraq for the project. If successful, the Development Road could become a beacon of hope for a nation emerging from a long night.