ISIS mines will take 50 years to clear in Iraq and Syria, U.N. says.
Speaking on International Mine Awareness Day on Tuesday, Agnes Marcaillou, director of the United Nations Mine Action Service, said making huge swathes of Iraq and Syria habitable again after ISIS had laid landmines would involve an effort of ”huge magnitude”, and that it could cost upwards of $180 million a year. The effort in Mosul alone could cost $50 million annually the U.N. official warned. As Iraqi forces continue to liberate areas from the ultra-hardline Sunni militant group in the country, they encounter territories planted with hidden mines and explosives, ensuring that even after ISIS has been forced from the land, a dangerous legacy lives on in the soil. The Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA) announced on Tuesday (April 4) however that 65% of the Kurdistan Region’s land that had been afflicted with landmines and other unexploded ordnance has now been cleared by demining teams.