‘Faceless killer’: Syria land mines keep sowing death

Syrian soldiers take part in a training session to remove and neutralise unexploded weapons, in the countryside of the capital Damascus, on June 19, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 11 July 2022
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‘Faceless killer’: Syria land mines keep sowing death

  • The airstrikes and shelling responsible for many of the Syrian war’s half million deaths have decreased in recent years

DAMASCUS: Family members from three generations were huddled on the back of a pickup truck for what started as a joyful ride through the Syrian countryside for Abdulaziz Al-Oqab and his relatives.
They were planning to sample the long-forgotten peacetime pleasure of a simple family picnic when a land mine brought a bloody end to their outing, and to the lives of 21 family members.




Members of the Syrian civil defence known as the White Helmets, equipped with protective outfits, search for unexploded weapons in a field, on the outskirts of al-Jinah village in Syria's northern Aleppo province, on June 23, 2022. (AFP)

Oqab walked away with relatively light wounds that day in February 2019, but the blast killed his wife, two of his sons, four of his siblings, an uncle and other family members, and left others maimed.
“It was a day of joy that turned into tragedy,” Oqab, 41, told AFP. “I’ve come to hate going out since then. People live in fear of this faceless killer that could be anywhere.”

FASTFACTS

• Since 2015, landmines and other explosive remnants have on average killed or injured five people every day, according to UN data.

• The UN Mine Action Service said 15,000 people have been killed or injured by explosive devices in Syria since 2015.

The airstrikes and shelling responsible for many of the Syrian war’s half million deaths have decreased in recent years.
But remnants of explosives laid by all sides in the 11-year-old conflict are now claiming more lives in Syria than anywhere else in the world, says the United Nations.
Since 2015, land mines and other explosive remnants have on average killed or injured five people every day, according to UN data.
“An entire family was destroyed,” Oqab said about the fateful day more than three years ago, sitting outside his traditional beehive-style mud hut in his village in Hama province.
“Death awaited us from inside the earth,” he said, surrounded by his orphaned nephews.
“This was our destiny.”




An explosion is provoked as Syrian soldiers take part in a training session to remove and neutralise unexploded weapons, in the countryside of the capital Damascus, on June 19, 2022. (AFP)

The UN Mine Action Service said 15,000 people have been killed or injured by explosive devices in Syria since 2015.
This is a “huge number,” said Habibulhaq Javed, who heads Syria’s UNMAS team. “Currently, Syria is reporting the highest number of victims caused by explosive ordnance globally.”
Syria’s war is estimated to have killed almost 500,000 people and displaced millions since it began in 2011.
About 10.2 million people, or roughly half of all Syrians, live in areas contaminated with explosive devices, the UN says.
“Mines have a long lifespan,” said a Syrian army officer, who asked not to be named over security concerns.
They stay lethal even longer if they are kept inside casings, he told AFP during a de-mining training exercise organized by the military near Damascus.
Syrian authorities detonate ammunition and explosive remnants of war on a near-daily basis, especially in areas formerly held by rebel forces near the capital.
In Syria’s rebel-held north, it is rescue workers who take on the daunting task of sweeping for land mines and detonating them, in the absence of state support.
The White Helmets rescue group has even set up training and workshops to raise awareness on the dangers land mines pose.




Abdulaziz al-Oqab and his nephews, orpahned after a landmine exploded under a pick-up truck they had clamoured on, killing several members of the family, walk in front of traditional beehive mud huts in a village in the central Syrian Hama province, on June 13, 2022. (AFP)

Raed Hassoun of the White Helmets heads a de-mining center in Syria’s northwest that has neutralized about 24,000 explosive devices since 2016.
“We deal with unexploded ordnance according to one principle,” he told AFP.
“Your first mistake is your last.”

A lack of resources is depriving most of Syria’s towns and villages of vital mine clearance work.
Last year, UNMAS carried out its first mine-clearing operation in government-held parts of Daraya, an area on the outskirts of Damascus that was once a rebel bastion and saw fierce fighting.
UNMAS also carried out sweeps in the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus, which was held by rebels and then jihadists before its recapture by government forces in 2018.
Explosive remnants were found in about 200 out of 6,000 surveyed buildings, the UN said.
The world body is struggling with limited funding for its de-mining programs, Javed said.
As a result, civilians have paid the price.
They include the family of Zakia Al-Boushi who, on a fateful day in 2017, went out with eight relatives in Aleppo province searching for the precious white truffles that grow in the desert sands in winter.
Only three of them returned alive.
The land mine that killed her relatives was the second one they came across that day.
Her brother was avoiding a device he had spotted when a second one went off and blew up their vehicle.
Boushi’s brother and mother were killed, while her daughter was left so shell-shocked she has not uttered a word in five years.
“The mine tore us apart,” Boushi said.


After Israel strikes Iran, airlines divert flights, airspace closed

Updated 6 sec ago
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After Israel strikes Iran, airlines divert flights, airspace closed

  • Iranian airspace has been closed until further notice, state media reported
  • Six commercial aircraft have been shot down unintentionally and three nearly missed since 2001, according to aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions

SEOUL: Airlines cleared out of the airspace over Israel, Iran and Iraq early on Friday after Israel launched attacks on targets in Iran, Flightradar24 data showed, with carriers scrambling to divert and cancel flights to keep passengers and crew safe.

Proliferating conflict zones around the world are becoming an increasing burden on airline operations and profitability, and more of a safety concern.

Six commercial aircraft have been shot down unintentionally and three nearly missed since 2001, according to aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions.

Israel on Friday said it targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defense units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines said it had suspended flights to and from Israel.

Iranian airspace has been closed until further notice, state media reported.

As reports of strikes on Iran emerged, a number of commercial flights by airlines including Dubai’s Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India were flying over Iran.

Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Iraq early on Friday closed its airspace and suspended all traffic at its airports, Iraqi state media reported.

Eastern Iraq near the border with Iran contains one of the world’s busiest air corridors, with dozens of flights crossing between Europe and the Gulf, many on routes from Asia to Europe, at any one moment.

Flights steadily diverted over Central Asia or Saudi Arabia, flight tracking data showed.

“The situation is still emerging — operators should use a high degree of caution in the region at this time,” according to Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information.

Several flights due to land in Dubai were diverted early on Friday. An Emirates flight from Manchester to Dubai was diverted to Istanbul and a flydubai flight from Belgrade diverted to Yerevan, Armenia.

Budget carrier flydubai said it had suspended flights to Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Iran and Israel and a number of other flights had been canceled, rerouted or returned to their departure airports.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East since October 2023 led to commercial aviation sharing the skies with short-notice barrages of drones and missiles across major flight paths – some of which were reportedly close enough to be seen by pilots and passengers.

Last year, planes were shot down by weaponry in Kazakhstan and in Sudan. These incidents followed the high-profile downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 en route from Tehran in 2020.


Iran’s Khamenei warns Israel faces ‘bitter and painful fate’

Updated 13 June 2025
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Iran’s Khamenei warns Israel faces ‘bitter and painful fate’

TEHRAN: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel would suffer severe consequences after launching deadly attacks on the Islamic republic on Friday, including Tehran and nuclear sites.
“With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself for a bitter and painful fate and it will definitely receive it,” Khamenei said in a statement.


UN nuclear watchdog says ‘closely monitoring’ situation after Israel strikes Iran

Updated 13 June 2025
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UN nuclear watchdog says ‘closely monitoring’ situation after Israel strikes Iran

VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed Friday that Israeli strikes were targeting an Iranian uranium enrichment site, saying it was “closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation.”
“The IAEA is closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation in Iran. Agency can confirm Natanz site among targets,” International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said in a post on the agency’s X feed, as the IAEA’s board of governors meets this week in Vienna.
“The agency is in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels. We are also in contact with our inspectors in the country,” he added.


IRGC commander, 2 nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes: Iran state TV

Updated 13 June 2025
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IRGC commander, 2 nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes: Iran state TV

  • Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards warn Israel of “harsh punishment” for its attacks
  • Dead scientists identified as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi

RIYADH: Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei confirmed on Friday that several military commanders and scientists were “martyred” in Israeli strikes on Tehran.

In a statement carried on state television, Khamenei warned that Israel will not go unpunished for its attacks.

State television earlier said that Hossein Salami, the chief of the Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was among those killed, along with another top Guard official and two nuclear scientists.

An anchor read a statement saying: “The news of assassination and martyrdom of Gen. Hossein Salami was confirmed.” The anchor did not elaborate.

“The martyrdom of... Major General Gholam Ali Rashid is confirmed,” state television said.

A major power center within Iran’s theocracy, with vast business interests and oversees the nation’s ballistic missile arsenal, the IRGC had been accused by Iran's neighbors of maintaining proxy militias such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Al-Hashd al-Shaabi of Iraq.

Iran’s Nournews also reported that Ali Shamkhani, a rear admiral who serves as adviser to Khamenei, was “critically injured.”

State television and local media also reported the death of two scientists working on Iran's nuclear program. They were identified as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.

Several children were also reportedly killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital.

Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

In a recorded video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel targeted Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb, its ballistic missile program and its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, in an operation that he said would continue "for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said, adding that the targeted military operation was meant to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.

An Israeli military official said Israel was striking “dozens” of nuclear and military targets including the facility at Natanz in central Iran. The official said Iran had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days.

Alongside extensive air strikes, Israel’s Mossad spy agency led a series of covert sabotage operations inside Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations were aimed at damaging Iran’s strategic missile sites and its air defense capabilities.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defense units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

“Following the pre-emptive strike by the State of Israel against Iran, a missile and UAV (drone) attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate time frame,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

(With Agencies)


Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

Updated 13 June 2025
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Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

  • “We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said in a video message
  • Says Israel also targetting scientists working on Iran nuclear weapons
  • Iran state TV reported that at least two nuclear scientists were killed in the Israeli strike

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s attack on Iran would “continue for as many days as it takes” after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that Israel launched a ‘targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

Calling the offensive “Rising Lion,” he said Israel was also targeting Iranian commanders and missile factories, and declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Tehran.
“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the recorded video message.

“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz... We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program,” he said, adding that Israel had also hit Iranian nuclear scientists “working on the Iranian bomb.”

Iran state TV later reported that nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed in the Israeli strike.

A witness in Nantanz city said multiple explosions were heard near the facility, and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the country’s leadership was holding a top security meeting.