Amer was injured and maimed by an unexploded ordnance in his village, Khasham, in northeast Syria, a few weeks after he returned home with his family.
Children do not know the danger
Amer and his family have been displaced for seven years. Following the fall of the regime last year, they were among the first people to go back – they spent a whole month with things going alright.
When the parents are around the house, they make sure that the children are not going anywhere far, as they have received some instructions to be cautious given the contaminated areas they returned to. But one day, Amer parents had some work to do and needed to leave the village. When they returned, an accident had happened.
The importance of awareness campaign
Amer and his cousins were playing outside. They found an explosive ordnance and held it in their hands. They dido not know what it was. They kept hitting it against a stone to try to find out what it was. The explosive device began to emit smoke, which made them even more curious.
Eventually, it exploded.
The boy who was holding the explosive ordnance was killed. Amer, who was very close, had his leg completely shattered, which led to an amputation. A third child had his two fingers injured and cut, and another one who was a bit further away suffered only minor injuries.
The lack of medical assistance
The family immediately took them to the nearest medical centre. But it was not well equipped. They were transferred to the Hasakeh Hospital.
There, the doctor said that Amer would have to go through an amputation (upper limb). By the time he arrived at the hospital, the child had already lost a great deal of blood and had to undergo immediate surgery.
No more victims
Following the amputation, Amer did not understand that his leg was fully amputated. He kept telling his mother that his leg hurt.
“We do not want any more children in our village to go through what Amer and his cousins suffered. We hope that more awareness, clearance of contaminated land, and stronger support for survivors will prevent such tragedies in the future”,
says Amer’s grandfather
Supported by HI and partner to walk again
Amer was identified by HI and referred to our partner, the Kasra National Hospital. After his surgery, he received physical rehabilitation sessions starting in February until the end of April 2025. During that period, he was also provided with a child's elbow crutch and a toilet chair.
At the time, as his accident was recent, the rehab team recommended waiting for his injury to stabilize before proceeding further. Unfortunately, during this waiting period, follow-up with Amer, the team lost track of him.
Moving forward, our current plan is to connect Kasra’s rehabilitation team directly with Amer’s grandfather – who seems to be the parent now in charge of Amer - to schedule an appointment, so he can continue his treatment plan and proceed with receiving a prosthetic.
Risk education
Risk awareness sessions conducted by HI are crucial. HI has a dozen of risk awareness agents who go from villages to villages to educate the population about the dangers posed by explosive ordnance and how to behave safely.
Children are unaware of the dangers posed by landmines and explosives. They do not know that they need to stay away from them.
Syria is littered with explosive devices from 13 years of combat and bombing. Since the war began in 2011, it is estimated that more than one million explosive munitions have been used across the country.
Generally, 10–30% of munitions used fail to detonate (Carter Centre). That is to be added to the contamination with landmines and improvised explosive devices. An estimated 14.41 million civilians in Syria are at risk and since Bashar al-Assad fell from power in December 2024 (Landmine Monitor 2024), mines and explosive remnants of war have claimed more than 1,200 victims, including nearly 500 fatalities (Mine Action sector in Syria).
