The Qalamoun region on the Syrian-Lebanese border. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
A landmine explosion in eastern Bekaa, near the border with Syria, injured two Syrian nationals aged 28 and 29 on Thursday night, a security source told our correspondent Sarah Abdallah. The incident in the Anjar area.
According to the security source, the two men quickly received first aid from the Civil Defense, with support from members of the Lebanese Army, before being transferred to the Bekaa hospital in Taalabaya. Without giving details of the seriousness of their condition, the source said that the two victims were still alive.
The accidental detonation of anti-personnel mines, scattered in many areas during Lebanon's 1975-90 Civil War and successive conflicts, is a scourge that continues to claim victims each year. Around 40 percent of landmines fail to explode on initial impact, and instead remain under the ground and explode when stepped on by civilians, sometimes decades later.
15,000 hectares trapped
When de-mining operations began in Lebanon in 2000, led by the Lebanese Army in coordination with several international organizations (including the British NGO Mines Advisory Group), it was estimated that some 15,000 hectares were rendered inaccessible by anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance. Although 80 percent of these areas have reportedly been "decontaminated," a significant proportion of the territory is still riddled with explosive devices.
During its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, followed by the 2006 war, the Israeli army is estimated to have laid around 400,000 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines in border areas.
More recently, fighting linked to the occupation between 2013 and 2017 of several regions in the east of the country by members of the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front groups has contributed to explosive devices being left in the ground in these areas. An incident in February 2022 near Ras Baalbeck, one of the towns most affected by these groups' presence, claimed the life of a young Lebanese man and wounded another. Other explosive devices have been installed by the Syrian army along its border with Lebanon in an effort to combat arms smuggling.
According to the Landmine Monitor annual report published in November, 4,710 people were injured or killed by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) globally in 2023.
