The horrific wildfires that hit Lebanon last week brought a more deadly, explosive threat with them, specifically on the southern border.
In addition to laying waste to large areas of vegetation and posing a serious risk to residents, the fires that erupted in South Lebanon triggered landmines in several areas along the border.
No injuries were reported from the mine explosions themselves, but the fires did cause cases of suffocation among the firefighters that spent hours working to extinguish them.
And while they wounded no one this time, the landmines and hazardous remnants from the several wars that Lebanon has seen over the past few decades have been a serious threat to the safety of citizens living, often unknowingly, in their proximity.
Although the use of anti-personnel landmines is internationally prohibited and regarded as a war crime, they have been used in Lebanon indiscriminately, and countless more remain on Lebanese soil, with many dating back to the civil war.
According to the Landmine Monitor, there have been around 4,000 recorded accidents related to cluster munitions, landmines, and other dangerous remnants of war in Lebanon, and close to 1,000 victims of these cruel weapons.
The mines still in Lebanese territories today represent one more threat to Lebanon’s population, which is constantly surrounded by various, renewing dangers that undermine their barely-present peace of mind in a country that is edging total collapse.
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