Good News Story From: Northeast Syria - When Courage and Communication Combine
A small village, home to around 700 people south of Al-Qamishli, sits in an agricultural and pastoral area where families should be able to farm, graze livestock, and live in peace. But like so many communities across this region, the legacy of conflict had followed them home. After shelling in the nearby Tartab area, unexploded ordnance and other explosive remnants of war were left scattered across farmland and in and around the village itself - silent, hidden dangers waiting for the wrong footstep, the wrong plough line, or the curiosity of a child.
And yet this story is not really about the threat.
It is about what happens when skilled local teams, trusted by their communities, do their job with courage, professionalism and passion.
Following Explosive Ordnance Risk Education sessions delivered by our ITF - Reachout EORE teams, villagers felt able to come forward and report what they had seen. That matters. It means trust had been built; it means the message had landed; it means local people were empowered not just with knowledge, but with the confidence to act before tragedy struck.
From there, our Non-Technical Survey teams moved quickly. They identified the hazards, photographed and documented all relevant information, and referred the locations for technical follow-up. Then the clearance teams went to work.
The result was the safe location, removal and disposal of multiple deadly items from in and around the village, including a 122 mm high explosive projectile, a 60 mm mortar round, seven 107 mm rockets in total, and two PTM fuzes.
That is not just a list of munitions. It’s a field made safer for a farmer; a path made safer for a child; and a village made safer for every family trying to rebuild some sense of normal life.
This is what humanitarian mine action looks like when it is done well. Education leads to awareness; awareness leads to reporting; reporting leads to action; and action saves lives.
We are hugely proud of our Reachout Deminers and EORE teams for the professionalism they continue to show in communities like this one. Their work does not just remove explosives from the ground. It restores confidence, protects livelihoods, and gives people the chance to live without fear in the places they call home.
For both donors and the wider mine action community, this is the impact of your support in real terms. Not abstract statistics; not distant theory. Real people. Real hazards removed. Real lives protected.
And for the villagers, it means something even more important:
a safer tomorrow.
*Name changed for security reasons.
ITF expresses its appreciation to the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs for its support and to all partners and donors whose cooperation enables this work.