In the framework of support given since 2019 to the activities of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Iraq and Syria, Belgium has decided on a new contribution of 1.5 million euros in 2024. In recent years, Belgium has supported demining in Iraq and Syria for more than 11 million euros.
The need for demining in Iraq and Syria remains very high. Contamination from landmines and other explosive remnants has an impact not only on the immediate safety of boys and girls as well as women and men, but also on their access to humanitarian aid, on their access to livelihood, on the possibility of reconstruction and stabilization and on sustainable development (education, health care, etc.).
Read more…
Source: Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Related:
- Syria: Landmine Explosion Kills 3 Children in al-Hasakah Governorate
April 25, 2023
Three children were killed and two others have been injured when a landmine, reportedly planted by the US occupation forces, exploded in Tal Tamer town in northern Syria. The incident occurred in the vicinity of the US base in Qasrak area, north of Hasaka city. According to local sources, the landmine was planted by the US ...
- Syria: IS land mine kills at least 6 civilians in Deir Ez-Zor province
April 10, 2023
A deadly land mine explosion in Syria killed at least six people on Sunday, according to state media. News agency SANA said the explosion hit civilians who were foraging for truffles in the countryside, and blamed the incident on a land mine planted by the Islamic State group in the southern Deir Ez-Zor province. The area ...
- Iraq: IED explosion damages villagers’ vehicle in Erbil
April 6, 2023
An IED allegedly planted by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Erbil province damaged a vehicle carrying three villagers on Thursday morning, but did not result in any casualties, according to a local official speaking to Kurdistan 24. The passengers were traveling in the Sidakan district to collect springtime wild vegetables and herbs, Ihsan Chalabi, ...
- Syria: Roadside bomb hits bus in Deraa, wounding 16
April 3, 2023
Sixteen people were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Deraa governorate, Syrian state media reported on Monday. The attack reportedly occurred on a bridge at the Nasib border crossing with Jordan and was carried out against customs officials. Read more… Source: The National News
- Syria: An explosive device blast in Mezzeh area in Damascus, no casualties reported
April 3, 2023
Damascus, SANA- An explosive device went off on Sunday evening in a civilian car in Mezzeh area in Damascus, without causing any casualties. A source at Damascus Police Command told SANA that an explosive device went off in a civilian car in the eastern Mezzeh area, which led to its burning and the fire spreading to ...
- Iraq: Spiking violence strains sectarian ties
March 25, 2023
“I only remember the explosion,” Maytham, 16, said from his hospital bed, his pale arms speckled brown by shrapnel. The attack took place earlier this month in the Shiite-majority village of Hazanieh. The force of the blast hurled the teenager out of the vehicle, but his family — his parents, an aunt and three cousins ...
- The Radioactive Legacy of Depleted Uranium Ammunition Comes to Ukraine
March 23, 2023
The United Kingdom is sending Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine equipped with armor piercing depleted uranium rounds. Countries like the U.S., U.K., and Russia manufacture ammunition using depleted uranium because the metal is heavy and dense, making it ideal to break apart enemy armor. But it’s a highly controversial weapon because it’s radioactive and toxic, ...
- Twenty Years on, Iraq Bears Scars of US-led Invasion
March 19, 2023
In the lead up to the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, proponents of the war spoke of the Iraqi people as helpless victims of a dictatorial regime. Yet the Iraqi people paid the heaviest price of the invasion. Almost half a million people lost their lives, millions lost homes, and countless civilians suffered abuses by ...
- Iraq: Basra, the city most saturated with landmines worldwide
March 14, 2023
The Directorate for Mine Action (DMA) of the Iraqi Ministry of Environment revealed that Basra came first worldwide as the city with the most landmines. Media Director of the DMA, Mustafa Hamid, explained that the southern Iraqi city of Basra has about 1,200 square kilometers full of landmines, pointing out that areas where landmines are planted ...
- Saddam Hussein fell. Then violence in Iraq spiralled
March 14, 2023
When U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Adel Amer celebrated what he thought marked the end of two decades of war and isolation under sanctions that had brought Iraq and its people to their knees. But it turned out to be just the beginning of another era of conflict and chaos that saw an insurgency, the rise of ...
