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Syria
Mine Ban Policy
Mine ban policy overview
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Mine Ban Treaty status |
Not a State Party |
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Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record |
Abstained on Resolution 65/48 in December 2010 |
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Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings |
Did not attend the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2010 or the intersessional meetings in June 2011 |
Policy
The Syrian Arab Republic has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Its position has not changed in recent years. While expressing concern for the plight of mine victims and support for risk education and other efforts to protect civilians, Syria still views antipersonnel mines as necessary weapons for national defense and considers Israel’s continued annexation/occupation of part of the Golan Heights as an important reason for not joining the treaty.[1]
Syria has not attended any Mine Ban Treaty international meetings in 2010 or during the first half of 2011.
Syria has not usually been identified as a producer or exporter of antipersonnel mines. The size and origin of Syria’s mine stockpile is not known. Syria is thought to have last used mines during the 1982 conflict with Israel in Lebanon.
Syria is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
[1] Telephone interview with Milad Atieh, Director, Department of International Organizations and Conventions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 January 2008; and interview with Mohd Haj Khaleel, Department of International Organizations and Conventions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Damascus, 25 February 2007. See also, for example, Statement of Syria, Seminar on Military and Humanitarian Issues Surrounding the Mine Ban Treaty, Amman, 19–21 April 2004.
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