A Syrian Ministry of Defense officer and soldier were injured after a war-remnant mine exploded in Deir Ezzor city on Friday, October 2.

Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Deir Ezzor reported that the two members of the Ministry of Defense’s engineering teams were injured when a mine exploded as they were dismantling a minefield left behind by the former regime near the town of al-Husseiniyah, north of Deir Ezzor city.

The two were transferred to hospitals in Damascus due to the severity of their injuries, according to the correspondent.

The Media and Communications Department at the Ministry of Defense confirmed to al-Ikhbariya that an officer and a soldier from the Syrian Army’s military engineering units were injured while clearing mines in the Islah al-Husseiniyah area in the Deir Ezzor countryside.

Casualties in Previous Incidents

A member of the Syrian Ministry of Defense was killed and another injured after a mine exploded near the village of Kabina in northern Latakia countryside on July 28.

Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Latakia reported that while Ministry of Defense engineering teams were working in the area, one of their vehicles struck a landmine, killing one ministry member and injuring another.

The correspondent said at the time that Civil Defense teams worked to extinguish the fire caused by the explosion, recovered the body of the victim, and transported the injured person to the nearest medical facility.

The Ministry of Defense’s Media and Communications Department confirmed to the Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, that a soldier had been killed and another injured while performing their duties after a war-remnant mine exploded near Kabina village in the Latakia countryside.

Two Syrian Ministry of Defense members were also killed when a landmine exploded in northern Raqqa countryside on April 13.

Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Raqqa reported at the time that the mine exploded while the two men, members of the Ministry of Defense-affiliated Military Police in Raqqa, were dismantling landmines in the village of Khirbet Abboud in northern Raqqa countryside.

Two other people were killed when a landmine exploded west of the city of al-Sukhna in the Homs countryside on July 6.

Mine Casualties

The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented the toll from landmines and cluster munitions in Syria since March 2011, reporting that at least 3,799 civilians had been killed, including 1,000 children and 377 women.

The report stated that the danger did not disappear after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. It documented 329 civilian deaths, including 65 children, in the period that followed, amid the large-scale return of displaced people to homes and agricultural land contaminated with explosive remnants, particularly in Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, and Hama governorates, which were among the areas most affected by what the report described as a “hidden killer.”

29,000 Munitions Removed

On the ground, unexploded ordnance clearance teams affiliated with the Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management and the Syrian Civil Defense continue their efforts to clear Syrian territory.

In a statement, the Civil Defense said its teams had removed more than 29,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance since beginning their work, including more than 24,000 cluster munitions.

The statement said that every munition destroyed represents “a life saved,” stressing that explosive remnants directly obstruct stability and education, and warning of their profound psychological and physical impact on children, who are among the groups most exposed to these dangers while playing or moving through affected areas.