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LONDON: Ancient landmarks across the Middle East and Central Asia face not only the ravages of time but also landmines and explosives from years of war. From the colonnades of Palmyra in Syria to Afghanistan’s Herat Citadel, cultural treasures remain at risk and often out of reach.

The danger goes far beyond heritage. Despite being banned in 165 countries under the 1997 Ottawa Convention, landmines remain entrenched in conflict zones, claiming lives and causing life-altering injuries.

In 2023, they caused 2,426 deaths and 3,331 injuries worldwide, according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor. Civilians made up 84 percent of the victims, and more than one-third were children.

The toll — the highest for the ninth year in a row — reflects both an increase in armed conflicts and the growing use of improvised mines.

The use of landmines “on such an extensive scale” presents immediate dangers and long-term consequences, as “areas remain contaminated for extended periods, causing casualties long after the violence has ceased,” according to Anne Hery, advocacy director at Humanity and Inclusion.

Yemen shows the scale of the challenge. The Masam project, which Arab News explored in a Deep Dive in 2023, has removed 512,323 mines — including 4,735 explosive devices in August — from various regions since it began in 2018.

The demining initiative, run by ��������’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, has helped reduce the threat posed by landmines to civilians, including children, women and the elderly.

Although fighting in Yemen has subsided, the legacy remains deadly — in 2023 alone, 499 people were killed or injured by mines.

Yemen, along with Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Ukraine and parts of Africa, remains among the hardest-hit regions.

The danger is not limited to civilians, however. Landmines and unexploded ordnance also threaten a key part of the identity of nations: cultural heritage.

“There’s always going to be war, and it’s hard to see a conflict where there’s not going to be some residual risk of explosive contamination to civilians, and that’s where we come into it,” Damien O’Brien, operations manager for The HALO Trust’s Middle East programs, told Arab News.

Founded in Kabul in 1988 in response to the crisis left by the Soviet withdrawal, HALO now operates in 30 countries with a staff of more than 9,000.

The Middle East remains a priority, where clearing mines in urban and rural areas, including heritage sites, is essential to giving communities, and their culture, a chance to recover.

“Any site, regardless of what it is, needs to be surveyed so that we understand what the conflict history was, what the evidence is of any remaining unexploded items, and then also what is the intended use of that site,” O’Brien said.

Where people have remained active, he added, many “hazardous items have probably been found and removed.”

The impact goes beyond safety. “What we do reduces the number of casualties because we’re removing items, but it is also designed to help restore livelihoods,” O’Brien said. “And of course, tourism is extremely important in a place like Syria or Afghanistan.”

Years of war have devastated economies across Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. O’Brien emphasized that HALO’s work seeks to balance humanitarian needs with development.

“You might say that getting people back to their homes and resettled is a more urgent priority in terms of human safety and in terms of the economy than rehabilitating heritage sites,” he said. “That’s a discussion.”

Ultimately, he added, the decision is one for “the local government to make — we would work in line with their reconstruction strategy.”

HALO operates across the region during and after conflict, often in partnership with local and international authorities.

In Afghanistan, O’Brien noted, a robust mine action system has endured through political upheaval, enabling HALO to clear about 30,000 tons of ammunition at sites including Kabul’s Bala Hissar fort, Ghazni Bala Hissar and the Herat Citadel. At the latter, HALO partnered with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which carried out conservation work.

The organization also assisted the Turquoise Mountain Foundation at Shashpul Caravanserai near Bamiyan, along the Silk Road, and cleared ordnance from the Musallah Minarets complex in Herat.

Removing mines from historic sites is especially difficult. At the Musallah Minarets — a 13th-century complex of mausoleums, madrassas and mosques once home to 20 towers, now reduced to five and a half — clearance required careful manual excavation.

Carried out between 2017 and 2018, O’Brien said the intervention was prompted by a child’s accident with an anti-personnel mine near the site.

“There was a lot of important archeological excavation work that needed to be done,” he said. “And suddenly local museum officials were aware that there was a risk of explosive ordnance.

“It was quite a delicate operation. Because of the proximity to these monuments, we were not able to use machines, (such as) mechanical excavators with armor.

“So, we had to dig manually, sometimes as deep as a meter.”

During the work, complicated by ongoing archaeological digs, HALO teams discovered “sacks” full of blue mosaic fragments that had fallen from the minarets. The pieces were carefully sorted and catalogued at the local museum.

O’Brien was also among the first to return to Palmyra in central Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime on Dec. 8. The ancient site, dating to the Neolithic period, held some of the best-preserved Roman ruins before Daesh militants arrived.

However, Daesh caused extensive destruction and violence in Palmyra between 2015 and 2017. The terrorist group destroyed iconic historic monuments, including the Temple of Bel, Temple of Baalshamin, the Arch of Triumph, and parts of the Roman theater using explosives and sledgehammers.

In 2015, Daesh executed the 82-year-old head of antiquities, archaeologist Khaled Al-Asaad, publicly beheading him for refusing to reveal the locations of hidden artifacts.

“We had this request to go out to the eastern border, and it was on the way, and couldn’t really miss the opportunity,” O’Brien said. “I went with a Syrian colleague who had never visited Palmyra even before the war.”

The visit provided a preliminary assessment of the extensive work needed. O’Brien expressed hope that HALO would soon be involved in clearing the site. For now, the group is focused on training Syrians and Afghans, many formerly engaged in risk education, to take on demining and site restoration.

“When we gave them the opportunity to train to dispose of these items, both men and women, seize the opportunity,” he said. “I think that to be taking on such an important role in the reconstruction of their country is something that they feel tremendously proud of.”

Reflecting on the value of restoring heritage, O’Brien said he feels “privileged” to have contributed. 

“My academic background is in ancient languages. I studied those because I thought that was the best way for me to try to understand the world (and) to understand where cultures come from,” he said. “Whatever is happening at the moment, or whatever happened in recent history, there was a time before, and there’ll be a time afterward.

“A very unpleasant chapter in Syria’s history has just ended. Anything historical that predates that is a common heritage. It’s something which will bring people together at some point.”

Ultimately, O’Brien said, “when people have been through such an appallingly traumatic experience where so many things have been broken, that process of reconnection, however done, is extremely valuable.”