ALEPPO, February 25. /TASS/. Syrian army sappers who demine the settlement of Zahraa, recently liberated from terrorists, advance no more than 300 meters per day due to the sheer density of various explosive devices, including foreign-made ones, planted across the settlement. The military engineers say clearance of roads is a priority task at this moment.
As terrorists fled the settlement, they took weapons with them, but left the ordnance, as they had no time to load mines and gas canisters [which they use as makeshift mortar shells]. It is the Syrian sappers who now have to deal with the dropped explosives. Every now and then, one can find an unexploded mortar shell or purposefully planted improvised explosive device (IED), the engineers say.
"Our main task at the moment is to clear all roads in Zahraa, open them for the transport. We have already defused hundreds of explosive devices. Every day we find foreign-made fougasses, including Turkish-made ones. There are also ones we’ve never come across before," says military engineers commander Wahid Diab.
One sapper group defuses up to 30 such dangerous objects daily. However, the specialists admit that demining of the settlement proceeds slowly: the sappers advance by no more than 300 meters a day, due to the sheer amount of explosives. However, as soon as streets are cleared, utility services will immediately get back to work: people of Zahraa cannot wait to return to peaceful life.
According to the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria head Oleg Zhuravlyov, militants keep violating the ceasefire. In particular, they shelled settlements in Latakia, Idlib, Hama and Aleppo provinces, breaking the ceasefire for a total of 26 times.