A new report by the Cluster Munition Monitor found that in 2021, as in previous years, Syria had the most recorded cluster munition remnants casualties.
At least 37 casualties were recorded in attacks using cluster munitions in Syria in 2021, down from the 147 casualties for 2020 and the lowest annual total recorded since 2012, the Monitor said.
Despite a relative annual decline in casualties recorded for Syria, this continued the trend of Syria having the most annual casualties recorded each year since 2012, the report added.
According to the report, children made up two-thirds of all the victims of cluster munition remnants recorded in this year’s report.
The Syrian Civil Defense contributed to the report by providing statistics and data on northwestern Syria. It indicated that thousands of unexploded ordnance were left by bombings carried out by the Assad regime and its Russian ally. These remnants are dispersed in wide agricultural areas and among civilian homes in northwestern Syria, which poses a serious threat to the population.
The Civil Defense indicated that it had documented 21 explosions of remnants of war in northwestern Syria since the beginning of 2022, adding that the explosions killed 17 people, including five children, and injured 24 others, including 14 children and a woman.
The volunteer group pointed out its UXO teams had conducted more than 780 non-technical surveys in at least 260 areas contaminated with UXO since the beginning of this year, and cleared 524 various munitions in 449 clearance operations. The teams also provided 1,080 mine awareness sessions on the remnants of the war to around 20,000 civilians, including children and farmers.
(Source: SOC’s media department)
