€5m German boost for HALO landmine clearance in Syria


HALO’s programme will expand to save lives across the country in response to soaring accidents caused by explosives

The German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) supports the HALO Trust in Syria with a €5M grant to boost vital mine clearance efforts as tens of thousands of people return to reclaim their pre-war homes and cultivate their fields. Civilians displaced in their millions by the conflict are now returning to ruined villages, towns and cities that became the battlefields of the civil war. They are strewn with dangerous explosive devices ranging from grenades, improvised bombs and mortars to rockets, trip wires, and missiles. An average of six children are now being killed by explosives every week.

Read more…
Source: Reliefweb News


Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter


Related:

  • Syria: Director of Military Construction Establishment in Hama killed in explosive device blast

    April 3, 2024

    Director of the Military Construction Establishment branch in Hama Province, Engineer Basil Abdel Qader, was martyred in a terrorist attack that targeted his car with an explosive device in front of his house in al-Qusour neighborhood in the city of Hama. Hama Police Command told SANA that an explosive device placed by unknown persons in the ...

  • Syria: Car bomb kills 4, injures 20 in Azaz

    March 31, 2024

    At least four people were killed and 20 injured late Saturday in a car bomb attack that rocked a bustling market in Syria’s northern city of Azaz, according to local sources. The attack in the heart of Azaz’s vibrant marketplace was in an area controlled by opposition forces. Initial assessments are treating the explosion as a ...

  • Syria: One killed, two others injured in IED explosion in Damascus countryside

    March 28, 2024

    On Thursday, media sources revealed that one person was killed and two others were injured when an explosive device exploded in a car belonging to an officer in the Damascus government forces in the town of Jdeidet Artouz al-Balad in the Damascus countryside. According to what the town’s mayor said, an officer with the rank of ...

  • Syria: 14 citizens killed in landmine explosion in Raqqa

    February 25, 2024

    14 citizens were martyred and 8 others were injured as a result of the explosion of a landmine left by ISIS terrorists in the Raqqa desert, while they were collecting truffle mushrooms. The Governor of Raqqa, Abdul Razzaq Khalifa, said in a statement “While some residents were collecting truffle mushrooms in the Raqqa desert, a landmine ...

  • Syria: Seven terrorist drones shot down in Hama and Idleb countryside

    February 25, 2024

    Ministry of Defense has announced that seven terrorist drones were shot down and destroyed in Hama and Idleb countryside. The ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page: “Our forces operating in the direction of Hama and Idleb countryside managed to shoot down and destroy seven terrorist drones that attempted to attack our military points. Read ...

  • Syria: Five killed in landmine explosion in Hama countryside

    February 24, 2024

    Five citizens were martyred Saturday in the explosion of a land mine left behind by the terrorist organization (Daesh) in the vicinity of Tal Salamah in Hama countryside. A local source told SANA reporter that citizens were searching for truffle mushrooms in the eastern countryside of Salamiyah, and a landmine exploded on them, causing of their ...

  • Syria: U.S.-led coalition blocks drone attacks targeting Conoco oil field

    February 10, 2024

    Air defense systems operated by U.S.-led coalition troops based in eastern Syria halted six drone attacks targeting their base at the Conoco oil field on Saturday, a security source said. The source did not tell Reuters if there were any casualties from the attacks. Coalition troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who together fight ...

  • Syria: Several drones target US military base at Al-Omar oilfield in Deir ez-Zor province

    February 8, 2024

    A US military base came under a drone attack by Iran-backed groups in Deir ez-Zor province in eastern Syria, according to local sources on Thursday. Multiple kamikaze drones were fired at the military base at Al-Omar oilfield, where US forces are stationed, by Iranian-linked groups stationed on the western bank of the Euphrates River, the sources ...

  • Syria: Drone attack kills six Kurdish-led fighters at the al-Omar oil field

    February 5, 2024

    A drone attack on the largest US military base in Syria has killed at least six allied Kurdish-led fighters. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said its commando academy at the al-Omar oil field in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour was hit in the early hours of Monday. It accused Iran-backed militias of launching the drone ...

  • U.S. Central Command Statement on U.S. Strikes in Iraq and Syria

    February 2, 2024

    TAMPA, Fla. – At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Feb. 02, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States. The airstrikes employed more ...

  • Kataib Hezbollah announces halt of attacks on US forces

    January 31, 2024

    Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah has announced the suspension of hostile operations against US troops as Washington ponders its response to a deadly drone attack that killed three of its soldiers. The group’s attempt to de-escalate late on Tuesday, which it said was motivated by a desire not to “embarrass” the Iraqi government, was met with some scepticism ...

  • The drone wars of Iran’s militias are becoming more deadly

    January 29, 2024

    Iran has been increasingly exporting drones to its proxies throughout the Middle East over the last decade. The drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) increasingly play a role in Iran’s policies and the attacks by Iran’s proxies. Several years ago the drone threat may not have been seen as a major issue. Today it is taken seriously ...

  • Jordan: Three US troops killed and at least two dozen injured in drone attack on US outpost near Syrian border

    January 28, 2024

    Three US Army soldiers were killed and at least two dozen service members were injured in a drone attack overnight on a small US outpost in Jordan, US officials told CNN, marking the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the Gaza war. The killing ...

  • Syria: Several explosive devices dismantled in Daraa countryside

    January 23, 2024

    Units of Syrian Arab Army in Daraa countryside dismantled several explosive devices on the side of the road in the towns of Busra al-Harir in the northeastern countryside of the province, while a border guard unit was also able to shoot down a drone near the Syrian-Jordanian border. “Members of the engineering units of our armed ...

  • Syria: An ISIS terrorist wearing explosive belt eliminated in Daraa

    January 16, 2024

    Component authorities in Daraa managed to kill one of ISIS terrorists wearing a suicide belt before blowing himself up among a patrol member, east the city. In addition, an IED was founded in the al-Kashef neighborhood, with it been detonated by engineering unit. Read more… Source: SANA News  

  • Syria: Eight SAA soldiers and one civilian killed, 13 others injured in a terrorist attack in Palmyra

    January 9, 2024

    Eight soldiers were martyred Tuesday while 13 others were injured in a terrorist attack on a bus south of Palmyra in Homs eastern countryside. “Eight soldiers and one civilian were killed, 13 others were wounded in a terrorist attack with an explosive device on a military bus in Syrian al-Badyiah to the south of Palmyra,” Read more… Source: ...

  • Argentina arrests three from Lebanon, Syria in Maccabi Games terror plot

    January 3, 2024

    Police in Argentina have arrested three people for suspicion of planning a terrorist attack at the Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires, according to police reports from Argentina. The Argentine Federal Police (PFA) arrested three men from Syria and Lebanon, in Buenos Aires and the metropolitan area town of Avellaneda. Read more… Source: MSN News  

  • Syria: SDF commander killed in IED attack in Deir ez-Zor

    December 6, 2023

    The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Wednesday confirmed that prominent SDF commander Roni Welat (Shervan Hassan) was killed in a ‘terrorist attack’ in Deir ez-Zor on Tuesday. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also confirmed the commander’s death, reporting that he was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) at the entrance of Al-Omar ...

  • Iraq: Rocket launcher disguised as fuel truck seen firing 122mm artillery rockets

    December 5, 2023

    Earlier this week, Iranian-backed militants in Iraq fired 122mm artillery rockets at U.S.-led coalition forces in neighboring Syria using an improvised array of launchers disguised inside a modified tanker truck. “At approximately 2:15 p.m. on Dec. 3, 15 122mm rockets originating in Iraq were fired at the U.S. base Rumalyn Landing Zone in Syria,” according to ...

  • Syria: 15 injured in bomb attack in Afrin

    November 19, 2023

    Fifteen victims were injured Saturday in a bombing terrorist attack in the Afrin district in northern Syria, sources said. The bomb in the cargo bed of a freight truck in the town center of Afrin, which is under the control of the opposition in northern Syria, was detonated while the vehicle was traveling on the Azez ...

  • Landmines: New Use Despite Global Ban

    November 14, 2023

    Russia, Myanmar, and Ukraine have used antipersonnel landmines in the past year, and armed groups used them in at least five countries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing Landmine Monitor 2023, the annual report about the international treaty to ban landmines. The 120-page Landmine Monitor 2023 is the product of the International Campaign to Ban ...

  • UK: Friend of ‘IS Beatle’ jailed for terrorism offences

    November 13, 2023

    A British man who spent two years with Islamic State in Syria and knew the British militant dubbed Jihadi John, has been jailed for carrying a weapon for terrorist purposes. Aine Davis was also sentenced at the Old Bailey for fundraising after he tried to get his wife to send him 20,000 euros (£17,460). Intelligence services ...