At least 16 killed after unexploded bomb from civil war goes off in Syria

An unexploded bomb from Syria’s 13-year conflict detonated in the coastal city of Latakia, killing at least 16 people and injuring 18, the White Helmets paramedic group reported on Sunday.

The explosion reportedly occurred when a scrap dealer unknowingly handled the old bomb, AFP reported. The powerful blast destroyed a four-story residential building, bringing down heavy concrete slabs and trapping residents beneath the rubble.

“Search and rescue operations continue to recover those trapped,” the White Helmets said in a post on Telegram.

The group said that it had worked overnight and recovered 16 bodies, including five women and as many children.

It also shared a video on social media showing emergency responders pulling survivors from the debris. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.

Unexploded ordnance remains one of the most dangerous legacies of Syria’s prolonged war, continuing to claim lives and cause destruction even years after the initial conflict.

According to a UN report from February, nearly 100 people have died due to unexploded ordnance over the last 13 years.

Since the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad in December, disposal teams have intensified work to clear explosive remnants. They have safely disposed of over 1,400 unexploded devices thus far, but the scale of the threat remains severe.

Aid agency Humanity and Inclusion estimates that 100,000 to 300,000 of the nearly one million munitions used during the conflict failed to detonate and remain a significant risk to civilian populations.

It has identified at least 138 minefields and contaminated areas in the country’s most war-affected provinces such as Idleb, Aleppo, Hama, Deir-ez-Zor, and Latakia.

Despite ongoing clearance operations, the presence of undetonated explosives continues to hinder recovery efforts, endangering lives and delaying the safe return of displaced residents to their homes.

The explosion on Saturday occurred amid public celebrations in parts of Syria to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the uprising against Mr Assad’s rule.

Latakia, a vital port city, has seen a spike in violence of late following an ambush by gunmen loyal to Mr Assad on a security patrol. The counteroffensive by soldiers of the new Islamist regime, led by interim president Ahmad al Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebranded Isis affiliate, subdued the insurgency but resulted in extensive destruction. In a series of retaliatory attacks, Mr Sharaa’s forces also massacred hundreds of people from the minority Alawite community, to which the Assad family belongs.