Syria explosive remnants kill 19 in November: monitor

BEIRUT – Explosive remnants of war have killed 19 civilians in Syria since the start of November, a war monitor reported on Saturday.

“Nineteen Syrian civilians, including eight children and three women, have been killed by explosive remnants of war since the beginning of November, in the provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, Quneitra, Daraa, Hama and Homs,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Explosives left in fields, along roads or even in buildings by all sides in Syria’s decade-long conflict have wounded thousands of civilians and killed hundreds of others.

Syria overtook Afghanistan last year as the country with the highest number of recorded casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war.

The Landmine Monitor said this month Syria had registered the most victims for the first time since its annual reports began in 1999, with 2,729 people either killed or injured.

Across Syria, one in three populated communities are thought to be contaminated by explosive ordnance, the United Nations said in March.

Syria’s war is estimated to have killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions since it began with a brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011.