The Reverberating Effects of Explosive Weapon Use in Syria
Publisher: Action on Armed Violence
Author(s): Jennifer Dathan
Date: 2019
Topics: Weapons, Waste, and Pollution
Countries: Syrian Arab Republic
The use of explosive weapons, particularly in populated areas, causes wide-spread and long-term harm to civilians. Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) has been monitoring casualties from the use of explosive weapons around the globe since 2010. So extreme has such harm been in Syria in recent years that, by the end of 2017, Syria had overtaken Iraq as the country most impacted by explosive violence since our monitor began.
The conflict in Syria that began with a peaceful uprising against President Assad early in 2011 has turned into a conflict comprising many actors – the regime, rebels, extremist groups, Russia, the US-led coalition, Turkey, and Kurdish groups among others – with civilians struggling to avoid the impacts of the heavy use of explosive weapons that have marked the conflict.
In almost 8 years of conflict in Syria, between 2011 and 2018, AOAV recorded 79,206 casualties from explosive weapons – of these, 85% (67,263) were civilians. Casualties in Syria hit their highest levels in 2016, when AOAV recorded 13,313 civilian casualties from explosive weapons in the country. However, AOAV noticed the following year that, whilst total civilian casualties (deaths and injuries) were just below that of the previous year, civilian deaths had increased by 50% (from 5,639 in 2016 to 8,463 in 2017). As the war continued, injuries were increasingly less likely to be recorded - particularly in incidents where there were high levels of civilian deaths. Therefore, it is likely that the number of casualties from explosive violence in Syria is much higher than our methodology can capture.
It is not just the direct casualties from explosive violence, however, that must concern – it is likely that these account for a minority of total casualties caused by the impacts of explosive weapons. The use of explosive weapons in Syria has destroyed key infra-structure; deprived communities of clean water, sanitation, electricity, medical care, and forced many to flee their homes and neighbourhoods. Many civilians also have suffered profound psychological harm, while interruptions to education and employ-ment can stunt development for years, leaving many in poverty. Land often remains contaminated for decades, causing further casualties and preventing families from both returning to their homes and using their land. Such impact has devastating and lingering consequences for communities and cultures.
In this report, AOAV seeks to better understand the reverberating harms from the explosive violence in Syria, both current and anticipated, through an analysis of four broad areas: health, economy, environment, and society and culture.