BEIRUT: Eleven people were killed and dozens wounded when their pick-up truck ran over a landmine near Syria's southern city of Daraa, a war monitor said Saturday. "Eleven people, including five children under 16 and three women, were killed and around 34 people were injured" in the explosion, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that some were in critical condition. Most of the victims were laborers harvesting wheat, Syria's official SANA news agency said.
The latest toll brings to 124 the total number of people killed by explosive remnants since the beginning of 2022, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources in Syria. Explosives left by all sides in fields, along roads or even in buildings in Syria's decade-long conflict have wounded thousands of civilians and killed hundreds of others. Across the country, about half the population is estimated to be living in areas contaminated by unexploded ordnance, according to the United Nations.
In 2020, Syria overtook Afghanistan as the country with the highest number of recorded casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war, with 2,729 people killed or wounded, according to the Landmine Monitor. In 2021, 241 civilians were killed and 128 wounded by explosive remnants across Syria, the Observatory said. Syria's war is estimated to have killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions more since it began with a brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011.
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Major damage
Meanwhile, Syria has confirmed major damage including to runways at Damascus International Airport, which was closed for a second day Saturday for repairs after Zionist air strikes. The transport ministry said in a statement that runways were out of service. Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Zionists have carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbor, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters from Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
But rarely have such attacks caused major flight disruptions. "Civil aviation and national companies are working... to repair the sizeable damage at the airport," the ministry said, adding a terminal building was also hit. The official SANA news agency said the Zionist bombardment wounded a civilian. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the missile strike before dawn on Friday hit one of the runways as well as three arms depots near the airport belonging to Hezbollah, and other Iran-backed groups.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources within Syria, said the strikes wounded an undetermined number of people. Satellite images posted on Twitter by the Zionist firm ISI showed three separate areas of what it said was "extensive damage to both military and civilian runways" caused by the strikes. According to the Observatory, the damaged runway was the only one still operational after a Zionist strike last year put another one out of service.
Russian condemnation
The 2021 bombardment had targeted weapons shipments and arms depots operated by Iran-backed groups, said the Observatory, a Britain-based monitor. The airport is in a region south of Damascus where Iran-backed groups, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, regularly operate. The vicinity of the facility is favorite target for Zionists which has launched 15 aerial attacks on Syria this year alone and regularly accuses Iran of using Damascus airport to send weapons shipments to its allies.
Syrian state media had reported that a volley of missiles was fired from the occupied Golan Heights at around 4:20 am on Friday. Syria's ally Russia strongly condemned "the provocative Zionist attack against essential civilian infrastructure". A spokesperson for Russia's foreign ministry called such attacks "an absolutely unacceptable violation of international norms."
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke by phone and also condemned the attack, SANA reported. Syria "will defend itself by all legitimate means" against Zionist attacks, Mekdad said. While Zionists rarely comments on individual strikes, they have acknowledged carrying out hundreds in Syria, in what the Jewish state's military says is necessary to prevent its arch foe Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.
The conflict in Syria started with the brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers and global jihadists. The war has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes. Russia's military intervention in 2015 helped turn the war in favor of Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad. Moscow maintains military bases in the country. - AFP