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2025-01-15 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
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Unexploded ordnance in Syria killing children at ‘alarming’ rate, UN warns
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[IsraelTimes] Over 100 kids killed or injured in last month, UNICEF reports, as explosives litter country after almost 14 years of civil war; tens of millions of dollars needed to clear them
More than 100 children were killed or maimed in Syria last month alone after setting off mines and other unwent kaboom! ordnance littering the country after nearly 14 years of civil war, the UN said Tuesday.
The United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
children’s agency UNICEF warned that Syria’s girls and boys "continue to suffer the brutal impact of unwent kaboom! ordnance at an alarming rate."
Such ordnance, dubbed UXOs, are explosive weapons such as bombs, shells, grenades, landmines and cluster munitions, that did not explode when they were deployed and remain a risk, sometimes for decades.
In December alone, as Syria was rocked by dramatic political upheaval following the sudden ousting of strongman Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
 Despoiler of Deraa...
, UNICEF said it received reports of 116 children killed or injured by UXOs.
That is "an average of nearly four per day," UNICEF communications manager for emergencies Ricardo Pires told news hounds in Geneva, speaking via videolink from Damascus, adding that "this is believed to be an underestimate."
"Across Syria, children face this lurking, often invisible, and extremely deadly threat."
Nearly 14 years of brutal civil war, which killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions, has left an estimated 324,000 pieces of unwent kaboom! ordnance scattered across Syria, Pires said.
"Over the past nine years, at least 422,000 incidents involving UXOs were reported in 14 governorates across the country," he said, adding that half of those were "estimated to have ended in tragic child casualties."
He warned that the danger had been worsened with renewed displacement since Islamist-led rebels last November 27 launched the offensive that would overthrow Assad just 11 days later.
Since then, he pointed out, "over a quarter of a million children were forced to flee their homes due to escalating conflict."
"For these children, and those trying to return to their original areas, the peril of UXO is constant and unavoidable," he said.
UNICEF stressed the need to dramatically scale up explosive clearance.
"It is imperative that immediate investment takes place to ensure the ground is safe and clear of explosives," Pires said, warning that some five million children currently live in contaminated areas.
"It’s the main cause of child casualties in Syria right now," he warned. "Every step they take carries the risk of an unimaginable tragedy."
UNICEF front man James Elder said an investment of only a few tens of millions of dollars would be enough to make a huge difference.
It "would save thousands of lives and will be an absolutely imperative part if Syria is to again become a middle income country," he told news hounds. "It’s a very cheap price that needs to be paid."
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Posted by trailing wife 2025-01-15 00:00||
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Posted by SteveS 2025-01-15 11:25||
2025-01-15 11:25||
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-15 14:40||
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