Syria, UXO detonates in residential area

A reporter from Enab Baladi, a Syrian non-profit media organisation, informed about an explosion caused by unexploded ordnance (UXO) that occurred on Thursday 20 February in a residential building in the town of al-Nayrab, Eastern Idlib Governorate. The Syrian Civil Defence confirmed that the blast hit a family of four, killing three people: a man, a woman, and a child. The fourth, a girl, was injured and her condition was not disclosed. In a separate statement, the Syrian Civil Defence said search operations were still underway. Syria remains a hotbed of UXO: Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, cited reports on 17 February that more than 430 people had been killed or seriously injured since December, nearly a third of them children. As the population of displaced persons returns to their homes after years of displacement, there has been a concomitant increase in both the discovery of UXO and injuries caused by such devices. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the town of al-Nairab, which was a site of active conflict in the area formerly controlled by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.