HRW: Hidden Landmines Left by Daesh Injure Raqqa’s Returning Residents

Daesh was ousted from Raqqa, their so-called de facto capital, in October 2017 by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Residents of the ruined city have slowly begun to return to their homes – only to find that their town has been turned into a mine-filled death trap, Sputnik reported.

Daesh has left landmines all over the city: in piles of rubble, inside refrigerators and wherever else they can fit them. The UN estimated that between 50 and 70 Syrians were being wounded or killed a week due to the intense mining of the city, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that they’ve documented 491 injuries from mine blasts since the city’s liberation — including 157 wounded children.

 “The defeat of [Daesh] in Raqqa was heralded as a global international victory, but international support for dealing with the aftermath of the battle, and notably the deadly legacy of mines, has not risen to the challenge,” HRW director of terrorism and counterterrorism Nadim Houry said in a Monday statement.

Visiting Raqqa, one is struck by the discrepancy between the international support to militarily defeat [Daesh] and the very timid support to deal with the aftermath,” Houry said. “If the situation does not change, the [Daesh] legacy of landmines will continue to kill for years.”

“The number of unexploded ordnance in Raqqa is something that we have never seen before. It’s extreme,” added Panos Moumtzis, the UN regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria.

H.M