Landmine victims: no comfort for injured civilians

Landmines threaten the lives of thousands of Syrian civilians who have returned to their cities and towns after the end of military operations there. And the worst thing is that some mines are still buried today, in unknown places that cannot be located, which means more victims, and in the coming years. An informed military source pointed out, in an interview with “Al-Akhbar”, that “the lack of maps of mines in Syria makes the process of demining a very difficult task and requires decades, due to the inability to know the location of all minefields, “adding that” the process of demining represents a real threat to the population, especially children, since they are the group most exposed to this danger, which can extend over many years. ” It is difficult to discover these mines because of their small size and design in various forms, including those that attract children as toys, and others placed inside mobile phones, such as the one that Ali al-Saleh (22 years old) encountered in 2015 , after he pressed one of the buttons on a mobile phone, so that it exploded in his face, and amputated him. His hands, his eyes also received shrapnel. Ali told Al-Akhbar: “My uncle found a mobile phone on Sixteenth Street in Homs, and he gave it to me for take it to maintenance. ». Ali was finally able to regain his sight after several surgeries he underwent, while having two artificial limbs that were “useless” as he describes them, and he only got rid of them: “I got two cosmetic prosthetics, but they are useless, because they hinder my movement. On my help, just a structure, nothing more, I couldn’t put them on, so I got rid of them and left without two games. ”Losing his hands, the young man lost his dream of giving him a high school diploma industrialist, indicating that “the baccalaureate depends mainly on the ability to draw, and therefore on the use of the hand, and due to the lack of utility of the cosmetic prosthesis, I cannot complete my studies.” In addition, the young man lost hope of get a job that suits his health, until he came to beg and knock on the doors of officials. “I submitted many job applications, and no one agreed. They all promised and failed you, from the other, body either mediated r or money, and I did not have the dragon, until I met by chance the Minister of Health, and he promised me, and for what has become something, “he concludes with his speech.

These mines are difficult to detect due to their small size and design in different shapes.

In turn, Rana (22 years old) did not know that he would not walk on his feet after 2/6/2015, which changed the course of his life forever. The young woman was exploded by a landmine on her way home from university to a village in the eastern Hama countryside. This time, the party responsible for the mine laying was ISIS. The young woman told Al-Akhbar: “I was on my way home. I ran my feet with a mine that was shaped like a plastic box. It exploded in my face and threw me several meters into the air. I lost my legs and some wounds spread throughout the body. ” For the young woman to regain her ability to walk, she needs to have bionic legs installed, and not the kind of cosmetic prosthetics, because the area of ​​her amputated area is large. Rana is waiting for a miracle to happen, to regain his ability to walk, and he hopes that a wealthy person or a charity will make a donation to him, whether local or international, given the high cost of electronic limbs: “One of the parties He gave me artificial limbs that look like polyester bodies displaying ready-made clothing. You can’t get me pregnant, because my amputation area extends from the foot to the top of the knee, and in this case, the cosmetic types do not benefit me, but only the smart limbs, so I took them off and replaced them with a wheelchair “. About his suffering when finding work, he pointed out that, I have a 100% disability and it allows me to get a job without the favor of anyone. Why so much humiliation? We have no rights, just because we are injured civilians. This is the usual response when asking for compensation or work ”, adding that“ there is only one charity that cares about the conditions of injured civilians, and sends them a small sum of money every month ”.
Like dozens of boys, Muhammad (17 years old) was playing with his friends on the morning of Azari 2016, in a neighborhood of Wadi Barada in the countryside of Damascus, until his eyes fell on an iron box, so his curiosity she pushed him to pick it up, and he exploded with it. Muhammad says: “That day, we were about 10 children gathered together, having fun and playing, so I took an iron box and then threw it within a stone’s throw, it exploded and injured everyone, but my wound was serious, I completely lost my sight and they cut off my right hand. The others were slightly injured, and among them was my brother ”. Since then, all of Muhammad’s attempts to find work have been unsuccessful. “I tried very hard to apply for work or financial grants to finance small projects, like a small grocery store, but there is no response, and if there is, it is with rejection, and the reason is that we have civilians injured.”
Those injured by the mines bitterly accept their physical reality. However, what they find difficult to accept is their marginalization and the denial of their rights as wounded, not at all, except because they are civilians, not soldiers. They don’t have job opportunities, they don’t have government benefits and some of them support his family, or he’s the head of a family that needs someone to take care of it. They are left to their own devices with their wounds that will accompany them throughout their lives, in addition to poverty, and the “humiliation of private associations”, if any.

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