In northwest Syria’s Idlib, a landmine left from the country’s war exploded as three children played near a well, killing siblings Aya al-Fankih, 4, and Rayan al-Fankih, 6, along with 6-year-old Amir, and wounding four other children. The blast has reignited w
IDLIB, Syira, Syria — Idris al-Ridah wept as he carried the lifeless body of his 6-year-old son, Amir, wrapped in a yellow and brown blanket, through the streets of northwest Syria.
He collapsed to the ground as he lowered his son into a grave next to two other young children who were siblings: Aya al-Fankih, 4, and Rayan al-Fankih, 6.
The three children were killed on Thursday in the village of Abu Habbah in the countryside of Idlib province, when a landmine left behind from Syria’s war exploded as they were playing near a well.
For families returning home after years away, the deaths landed with brutal immediacy. The father of the slain children, and others nearby, described the blast as something sudden and chaotic—an explosion that turned a normal moment into scattered bodies and blood.
“We heard a very loud explosion next to our house,” resident Mahmoud al-Aleiwi said. He added that “when we got to the location there was a number of children’s bodies thrown around the well.” He said one of the children was thrown 300 meters (984 feet) away by the blast and was later found on the roof of a house.
Syrian Civil Defense said four other children who were near the well were also wounded in the explosion. At a nearby hospital, wounded children cried as family members tried to tend to them. One child had shrapnel wounds across his face and body, with his legs wrapped in bandages. Another lay in bed with blood visible through bandages wrapped around his head.
The Idlib blast is the latest reminder of the danger posed by unexploded war remnants spread across Syria long after major conflict phases began. Mines and booby traps have killed and maimed hundreds of Syrians since the war began in March 2011, leaving about half a million people dead.
The impact is not limited to one moment or one village. Ten-year-old Ibrahim al-Suwadi. injured last month in a separate explosion in the town of al-Habit in Idlib’s southern countryside. told how the mine was found inside a damaged school. Sitting beside his father inside their home. he described how he was playing with friends at school when they went into a room and discovered the mine.
“Two brothers picked it up and took it to the bathroom,” the boy said. “We thought it was an exploded mine so we started throwing rocks at it. All of a sudden, an older boy grabbed my hand and we ran, the mine exploded and I lost consciousness then I don’t remember anything.”
His father said the family fled their village in 2013 during fighting and spent years living in displacement camps before returning after the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in December 2024.
Humanitarian organizations say unexploded ordnance remains one of the deadliest legacies of Syria’s war. Jakub Valenta. head of humanitarian disarmament and peace building for the Danish Refugee Council in Syria. said Syria has ranked among the top contaminated countries around the world over the past years. He said that, based on United Nations data, around 14.3 million people are in danger of explosive ordnance in the country.
Valenta said the explosive hazards include anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines and other unexploded devices left behind in residential and agricultural areas.
“We’re estimating that around 1,200 people and probably more have been affected by explosive ordnance accidents directly,” he said. “Out of those 1,200 people there were around 740 fatal casualties. The vast majority of these people are men and children.”
He also pointed to the way contamination complicates daily life and return. According to the Danish Refugee Council, around 60% of contaminated areas in Syria are agricultural lands, making it harder for displaced families to return home and rebuild livelihoods.
In Damascus’ southern suburb of Kisweh earlier this month. Syrian trainees working with Danish Refugee Council teams carefully removed and destroyed unexploded ordnance during training exercises aimed at expanding local demining capacity. The organization says it has recruited and trained new Syrian explosive ordnance disposal teams to help clear contaminated areas and educate communities about the risks.
“The number of the casualties is among the highest worldwide in terms of explosive accidents and victims,” Valenta said.
“These people suffer lifelong injuries, physical like losing a limb or their vision and suffer mental health problems,” he added. “These people also lose their jobs and livelihoods.”
For Idris al-Ridah, the war’s remnants were waiting where children played—near a well, in a village in Idlib—turning a family’s return into a funeral, and a landscape of daily movement into a place where the smallest step can be deadly.
Idlib Syria landmine unexploded ordnance children killed humanitarian disarmament Danish Refugee Council Mahmoud al-Aleiwi Amir al-Ridah Aya al-Fankih Rayan al-Fankih Ibrahim al-Suwadi