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Syria: Landmines Kill, Injure Hundreds in Raqqa

More International Support Needed for Clearance

(Beirut) – Homemade landmines have killed and injured hundreds of civilians, including more than 150 children, in Raqqa, Syria since the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) was pushed out of the city in October 2017, Human Rights Watch…
Warning about mines written on outside wall of building in Raqqa, Syria, January 21, 2018.
News

Middle East Conflicts Spur Disastrous New Trends for Region

(Beirut) – Lawless armed conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) morphed into disastrous trends for the region in 2017, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its 2018 World Report. “Failed leadership, failed…
Smoke billows behind a building in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on December 3, 2017, during clashes between Houthi rebels and supporters of Yemeni ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. © 2017 Getty Images
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Syria: Key Concerns for Raqqa Battle

Detainee Rights, Indiscriminate Attacks, Treatment of Displaced People

(Beirut) – The United States-led coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and other local armed groups should make protecting civilians and respect for human rights a priority in the offensive to retake Raqqa from the Islamic…
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters on their way to Raqqa, Syria June 6, 2017© 2017 Reuters
News

Iraq: ISIS Dumped Hundreds in Mass Grave

Security Forces, Prisoners, Women, Among Those Executed

(Erbil) – The Islamic State (also known as ISIS) executed and dumped the bodies of possibly hundreds of detainees at a site near Mosul, Human Rights Watch said today. Multiple witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the bodies of those killed,…
‘Hammam al-Alil mass grave marked and fenced’ Caption: A marked and fenced ISIS mass grave in Hammam al-Alil, 30 kilometers south of Mosul, discovered in November 2016.
News

Syria: Improvised Mines Kill, Injure Hundreds in Manbij

Lessons for Impending Battles in Iraq and Syria

(Beirut) – Homemade landmines have killed and injured hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children, in Manbij, a city in northern Syria. The antipersonnel mines, often called improvised explosive devices, were planted by the…
A family member stands next to the graves of three children who were killed when an explosive device planted by ISIS in a school in Manbij detonated on September 27.
News

The Deadly Threat That ISIS Leaves Behind as It Flees

Iraqi forces trying to take back Mosul must learn the lessons of Manbij, where returnees face booby traps.

Twelve-year old Aqil Hammud’s legs and arms were riddled with painful scars. Bits of fragments from the improvised explosive device that exploded underneath him on that hot June day were still lodged in his sun-tanned skin. He and four…
2) Zakia Hassan holds a photo of her son, Ibrahim Hammud, 35, who detonated an explosive device when he stepped on a mattress as he returned to his house on August 12.
News

When Cities Become Death Traps

“Urban areas have become death traps for thousands of civilians,” says a new report issued by the United Nations Secretary-General ahead of the first World Humanitarian Summit, which opens May 23, 2016, in Istanbul. The report describes the widespread use…
News

Syria/Turkey: Landmines Kill Civilians Fleeing Kobani

Turkey Should Clear Minefields, Relocate Refugees

(Istanbul) – Landmines placed decades ago by the Turkish military have killed at least three civilians trying to flee Syria and injured at least nine others, Human Rights Watch said today. The landmines, in a restricted zone along the border with Syria,…
News

Syria: Army Planting Banned Landmines

Witnesses Describe Troops Placing Mines Near Turkey, Lebanon Borders

(New York) – Syrian forces have placed landmines near the borders with Lebanon and Turkey in recent weeks and months, Human Rights Watch said today, based on reports and confirmations from witnesses and Syrian deminers. Civilian casualties have already…
News

ICBL publicly condemns reports of Syrian forces laying mines

 The International Campaign to Ban Landmines released the statement below on November 2, 2011. Human Rights Watch is a founding member of the ICBL. (Geneva) – The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is highly disturbed…
News

Global Progress on Banning Landmines

More than 22 million antipersonnel mines have been destroyed from the arsenals of at least fifty nations, and the number of new landmine victims is dropping sharply in heavily mined countries like Cambodia, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Mozambique,…