Clearing Landmines & Helping Refugees in Syria

Over a decade of war has left deep scars in Syria. The conflict has left the country contaminated with dangerous bombs and landmines, and millions have been forced to flee their home. In many areas, families can’t grow food, reach schools, or access hospitals because the land is too dangerous.

The HALO Trust has worked in Northwest Syria since 2016, clearing landmines and explosives, but now has expanded to newly accessible areas. Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced families are trying to return home. With so many people on the move, casualties from landmines are surging, especially for children. Since December, there have already been over 515 casualties from explosives, including 162 children.

As refugees and displaced families are returning to their homes, they are finding bombs and rockets in buildings, gardens, and fields. We are receiving 10x the number of calls from the community, asking for help. In the village of Kafr Yahmoul for example, 45 percent of families still can’t safely use their land or get basic services because of landmine contamination. We need to rapidly grow our teams so that we can help more families.

By supporting HALO, you are saving lives and helping displaced families. For example, recently, in a camp for Displaced Families and just 30 yards from a school, a water well was discovered that had been filled with hundreds of dangerous explosives.

"We were informed by one of the camp managers about a well filled with explosive ordnance and remnants of war. The well was located near a school, which made the operation even more critical," said Zakaria, HALO’s Mechanical Clearance Team Lead. The school shut down, the community was afraid, and children’s lives were at risk.

Noufal, the school principal, emphasized the gravity of the situation: "We, as the school staff, suspended school operations to ensure the safety of the students and the teaching staff. Once the work was completed and the danger of explosive ordnance was eliminated, the students were allowed to return to school. Thank God."

HALO’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team, led by Lama, acted fast. They carefully removed and transported over 1,500 explosives to a safe location, far from the camp, where they were destroyed safely. "We excavated and transported these items to a distant, open, and safe area, secured with earth mounds, approximately 540 yards away from the camp," Lama explained.

Only after HALO destroyed the explosives could the students safely return. After five tense days, the road was cleared so that the community could once again move freely and the children could go back to school.

This is just one example of HALO’s life-saving work in Syria. Each explosive cleared saves a life, helps refugee and displaced families safely return home, and removes barriers to services like education for children.

By supporting HALO you aren’t just clearing explosives and landmines, you are bringing back hope.