Syria

The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 enabled a shift towards country-wide mine action coordination, including the establishment of the Syria National Mine Action Centre (SNMAC) and work towards establishing a centralised database, national standards, and a mine action strategy. The extent of cluster munition remnants (CMR) clearance increased slightly in 2025, but no CMR-contaminated area was released through survey for the second consecutive year, and Syria still lacks a national contamination baseline. Despite intermittent suspensions of activities due to insecurity and the need to comply with new registration requirements, operators reported an overall expansion of capacities and outreach, and access generally improved across the country. The difficulties in importing demolition explosives are a major hurdle to safe and effective clearance.

• Syria should accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) as a matter of priority.
• Syria should continue to build the capacity of the newly established SNMAC, so that it can ensure effective coordination, tasking, and accreditation.
• Syria should establish a reliable national baseline of CMR, including through systematic survey of newly accessible areas and areas affected by recent fighting.
• Syria should continue efforts to consolidate data in one centralised database, and improve data quality and sharing.
• Syria should continue efforts to finalise and adopt the mine action strategy, and develop an accompanying implementation plan.
• Syria should continue efforts to finalise and adopt national mine action standards (NMAS) in consultation with operators and ensure their application across all survey and clearance activities.
• Syria should establish clear procedures and fast-track operators’ registration, accreditation, tasking, and approval processes to enable a more efficient deployment.
• Syria should remove obstacles to the importation of mine action equipment and assets, including access to and the authorised use of demolition explosives, to ensure the safe and effective disposal of encountered threats.
• Donors should provide flexible and sustainable funding for mine action in Syria, and consider more direct support to operators to strengthen autonomy and cut through the administrative burdens.

Click here to download the full "Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2026" report for Syria.