Local news channels, quoted by the Syria TV channel, reported that Antar Hamid al-Asaad, an 8-year-old boy, was killed by a hand grenade explosion in the village of Al-Shuhail, east of Deir ez-Zor.

They added that a man died and his nephew, a minor, was seriously injured by a landmine explosion in the city of Tabqa, west of Raqa.

In another incident, two persons were seriously injured by a mine explosion in the Huwayjah Qata area near Deir ez-Zor city.

The HALO Trust organization specializing in the clearance of mines and explosive remnants of war, warned that Syria could experience a sharp increase in the number of victims of mines and unexploded ordnance with the start of summer holidays, as hundreds of thousands of families return to their homes in former battlefields.

The organization stated that the number of civilian casualties from abandoned mines and munitions has exceeded 1,000 since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, and clarified that one third of these victims are children.

Work is under way to resolve this crisis by scaling up awareness programmes in schools and affected communities, the entity said.

abo/arc /fm