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Explosive weapons have been used indiscriminately in Syria. The ordnance from explosive weapons may detonate on impact or lay dormant until initiated. As a result, Syria is heavily contaminated by remnants of explosive weapons. Contamination by explosive ordnance represents not only an immediate physical threat to civilians but also prevents safe access to services or humanitarian aid, endangers civilian movements and their ability to return safely, and poses long-term dangers as explosive remnants of war.
Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, it is estimated that more than 1 million explosive munitions have been used across the country, primarily in populated areas. In any given context, generally, 10-30% of used munitions fail to detonate, leaving high levels of contamination with landmines, explosive ordnance (EO), and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that continue to pose a threat of injury and death. In Syria, an estimated 14.41 million civilians are at risk from explosive ordnance, with contamination heavily impeding access to basic services, humanitarian aid and livelihood opportunities. In Syria’s cities, explosive hazard contamination impedes access to roads, critical infrastructure like schools, hospitals, bridges, and commercial properties, as well as largescale contamination in residential areas. Recovery efforts in urban centres remain particularly challenging as explosive hazards can lie in wait, hidden under the rubble of damaged or destroyed buildings. EO contamination impacts 146 sub-districts (54% of all sub-districts) across Syria2, however, the full picture of EO contamination levels remains unknown, as no country-wide non-technical survey to identify and mark EO has ever been conducted. Based on the annual number of incidents compared with the pace of clearance, it is estimated that the time for clearance would be measured in decades rather than years to be able to remove enough explosive remnants of war (ERW)3 to be able to declare Syria a “low impact” country.