Projectile event in Idlib, Syrian Arab Republic on Wed 25th August 2021

World Vision is horrified to learn of the death of two displaced boys in the vicinity of Syria’s Idlib Al-Abrar camp, who were killed by unexploded remnants of war. The children, age 7 and 11, were playing after school with a metal object they had found 500 meters away from the camp, and brought home. The object detonated as they played with it. While the two brothers have sadly lost their lives, their three sisters have also been injured. The five children involved in this accident are part of World Vision’s informal education project that has been running in the area since May 2021. “Our teams on the ground have temporarily suspended operations to assess the risks and ensure close coordination with mine actors, as well as our local partners on the ground. The project targets more than 5,000 children and teachers with formal and informal education services to ensure continued learning for displaced girls and boys”, reports Johan Mooij, World Vision Syria Response Director. The events are becoming all too frequent. Just two months ago, one hundred girls and boys could have died as a shelling attack targeted the mosque close to this same educational facility. Fortunately, there were no casualties reported then.