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More than 200 returning refugees, including women and children, have been killed in Syria by landmine explosions and other leftover munitions in the three months since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The number of casualties continues to rise as approximately 1.2 million Syrians return to their homes and lands after being displaced during the civil war. Across Syria, thousands of landmines and unexploded shells remain scattered after 14 years of war, both in major cities and rural areas where battles between the Syrian army and rebel groups took place.
Bomb disposal experts quoted in the British Guardian stated that currently, "there is no safe area in Syria." According to the Halo Trust organization, which works to clear landmines, as of last week, 640 Syrians have been killed or injured by unexploded munitions that remain in the area.
According to a report published by the United Nations, one-third of the victims are children, some of whom mistook the mines and shells for toys. "We cannot say there is any area in Syria free of war remnants," said Mohammad Sami al-Mohammad, a bomb disposal expert working for the White Helmets aid organization, as quoted in the Guardian.
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He added that it would take decades to clear the mines and make Syria safe. "There are countries where wars ended 40 years ago, and they still haven’t completely eradicated this danger. It’s not that simple, and what happened in Syria is far more devastating compared to other places," he said.
Volunteers are helping residents returning to their homes to clear mines from the area, but they too are sometimes injured or even killed during the demining process. Today, an annual conference aimed at raising funds for Syria will open in Brussels. Syria has been suffering from humanitarian issues and instability since the fall of Assad.
The conference, organized by the European Union since 2017, was previously held without representation from the Syrian regime during Assad's rule. This time, under the new regime led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, Damascus will send a representative: Assad al-Shibani, the foreign minister of the transitional government. Ministers and representatives from Western countries, Arab states, and UN agencies will attend the conference in Brussels. Until this year, the conference primarily focused on aiding Syrian refugees in Europe.
Participating countries avoided direct contact with the Syrian regime and directed their donations to the UN and aid organizations working for Syrians. Now, after Assad's ousting, Europe hopes Syria will embark on a new and more stable path. However, the conference is taking place just a week after the massacres of civilians from Syria's Alawite minority. These Alawites were executed during fierce clashes between the security forces of the new regime and armed loyalists of the previous regime.
"This is a time of critical challenges and needs for Syria, as we tragically saw in the recent wave of violence in the coastal regions," said Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign minister. European officials noted that the conference is particularly important given that, under Donald Trump's leadership, the United States is dramatically cutting humanitarian aid and development programs worldwide.