Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:07many types of mines
00:00:19It has been three days in a row.
00:00:35with the recent low
00:00:40intervened and conducted a comprehensive survey
00:00:49many dangerous types spread in Syria, way, much more dangerous than What are Syrians concerned about today, and what are the most prominent issues that are present in the details of their lives? We seek
00:00:53answers to these questions in a new episode of Ain
00:00:56Syria. Welcome, and here are the main headlines.
00:01:08an additional danger to Heavy floods and rains change the locations
00:01:11of mines and war remnants and increase the possibility
00:01:15eyes. Let me take of their presence in areas that were not previously classified
00:01:18as dangerous
00:01:21In fact, Katherine, the situation areas. The black field cricket
00:01:25invades villages in the countryside of Hasakah, and its widespread
00:01:28spread causes concern. Residents and drives families
00:01:31to leave
00:01:33of field crickets in
00:01:36The problem is very big. their homes. Lack of administrative services in
00:01:38Kafr Zeita in the Hama countryside adds burdens on residents
00:01:44difficulty in and forces them to travel outside the city to complete their transactions.
00:01:48semi-clean of
00:02:00Heavy floods and rains in several areas
00:02:03of Syria increase the risks of mines and unexploded ordnance,
00:02:07as water may sweep them away from their original locations
00:02:10or rebury them under new layers of
00:02:13soil, which makes it difficult to detect them or makes it difficult
00:02:17to detect them and threatens the safety of residents, even
00:02:20in areas that were previously
00:02:23heavily mined areas, despite surveyed and cleared. In the town
00:02:26of Hamaamiyat in the Hama countryside, a mine exploded a few
00:02:29days ago in a military bulldozer that was working south
00:02:34caused great fear and disgust of Tal Hamaamiyat, which led to its breakdown
00:02:37number of and a partial halt to demining operations, according to Muhammad
00:02:41the rains and sweeping water in Al-Hussein, a former member of the community committee
00:02:43in the town. Al-Hussein told Syria TV website
00:02:46that last season's rains caused large quantities of soil
00:02:50to be swept away from the surrounding hills
00:02:55base. The rule and accumulated a layer that was about
00:02:57one and a half meters thick over some mines and war remnants,
00:03:01despite the area being previously subject
00:03:04to survey and clearance operations. Al-Hussein
00:03:08means to deal with explained that floods may expose mines at some periods
00:03:12before reburying them
00:03:13and the front lines under new layers of
00:03:15there is no definitive solution soil, which makes
00:03:16signs. This danger their detection more
00:03:18of farmers to these difficult, especially when they become at depths
00:03:22exceeding the capabilities of the survey
00:03:24to combat this spread in devices used. greater productivity
00:03:31As a result of the recent
00:03:37and the massive quantities of these big, so today, according heavy rains that fell on all parts of Syria, we had huge floods and torrents, especially in desert areas,
00:03:40prevent the ability to as we saw on social media clips or that spread recently.
00:03:43These torrents may have swept away war
00:03:47remnants and mines in their path.
00:03:50I hope our civilian people and our civilian
00:03:53sisters do not approach these torrents, even if they
00:03:56Do not hesitate to report in case of encountering any strange object, and
00:04:00God willing, we will meet your needs and your reports, and the most
00:04:03important thing is that you remain in good health
00:04:05and safety. For details,
00:04:07is concern, especially in we have a group of our correspondents Mussab Al-Hint from Deir
00:04:10Ezzor, Alaa Al-Sweid from Hama,
00:04:15and it is swept away and Ibrahim Al-Sweid from Idlib. Welcome all of you. We start with
00:04:19Mussab in Deir Ezzor. It is one of the areas where
00:04:22mines are most
00:04:24be mined. Do not approach prevalent. How was it today after
00:04:27these floods that occurred in the area? To which
00:04:31areas did these
00:04:32are many mines drift?
00:04:35Good evening, Katherine, and to our esteemed viewers. In fact, the war
00:04:38and battles left behind a heavy
00:04:41legacy of death, let me
00:04:44say postponed death in eastern Syria, especially in Deir
00:04:47Ezzor province. Minefields
00:04:50and unexploded ordnance are spread over
00:04:54vast areas of the desert and agricultural lands
00:04:58in Deir Ezzor province. Some of them were detected
00:05:02and dismantled by engineering teams or a sign was placed
00:05:05not to enter them, but the majority are still
00:05:09buried and of unknown
00:05:10time, it means location, perhaps waiting for a wrong
00:05:13step to claim a new victim. In Deir
00:05:16Ezzor, Katherine, the price was paid
00:05:20by civilians alone, a farmer in his land, a shepherd following his flock,
00:05:24a child playing, a woman searching for truffles in the desert, all of them were
00:05:28victims of these explosions, explosions that were sudden. Hundreds of people from Deir
00:05:31Ezzor were killed or injured, and also amputees.
00:05:35These incidents occurred during simple daily activities
00:05:38without knowing that there was no mine
00:05:42or explosive device in these areas. Today,
00:05:47pressure system and the heavy
00:05:50rains and sweeping
00:05:53floods it brought, this issue has resurfaced in all
00:05:57of eastern Syria, and in a more dangerous
00:06:00before, especially after the warning from the Ministry of Emergency
00:06:03and Disaster Management and the Syrian Civil Defense.
00:06:07The warning was clear: the force of the floods
00:06:10is capable of washing away soil and moving these mines
00:06:14from one area to another. Katherine, let me tell you something very
00:06:18important. Previously, a local organization
00:06:22collaborated with an American organization, and a helicopter conducted
00:06:25a survey of part of Deir Ezzor province. They said that
00:06:29there were more than
00:06:32200,000 contaminated points with mines. Meanwhile,
00:06:36the Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management, Raed Saleh, stated
00:06:39that Deir Ezzor province has more than half a million contaminated areas, between mines
00:06:43and explosive objects.
00:06:48In fact, according to what we learned from some international organizations, they said
00:06:52that Deir Ezzor province needs international intervention
00:06:56and also needs ten years to be clean or
00:07:01mines. In fact, there are minefields
00:07:03that were found and perhaps
00:07:07cleaned, but there are tens of minefields that we do not know where
00:07:11they are located in all of Deir Ezzor province. Today,
00:07:14when the floods ended, we went
00:07:18to some areas, especially the rural areas. The
00:07:22water was flowing very heavily, really sweeping floods.
00:07:25Certainly, according to what the Emergency and Disaster Management administration informed,
00:07:29it may have swept these mines from one area to another, especially
00:07:33the densely populated areas or areas that witnessed battles
00:07:36previously and some of them were cleared of mines, perhaps
00:07:40mines have returned to them in a new way.
00:07:43The mud and sludge in some areas is
00:07:46almost half a meter due to the
00:07:50sweeping water that was caused by
00:07:54the area. Today, the warnings are clear. Anyone
00:07:58who sees a strange object should not approach it, according to the
00:08:01Emergency and Disaster Management and Civil Defense administration, and should also inform
00:08:04the nearest
00:08:07is known: do not touch, do not approach, inform the nearest
00:08:11Civil Defense center or the Emergency and Disaster Management or engineering teams, whether
00:08:15by the way, there were teams at the beginning
00:08:18of the liberation in Deir Ezzor province, team 55 or 65, I do not
00:08:22remember the exact number, that were clearing mines
00:08:25locally, but they lost their lives.
00:08:29Only about 50 or 52
00:08:32people remained, even their leader died as a result
00:08:36of clearing some areas of mines.
00:08:40They sacrificed their lives to clear these areas and help
00:08:43the people. The issue is very
00:08:46to the warnings, the people should not approach
00:08:49any strange object. In Deir Ezzor, in the city, two children
00:08:52were playing with a strange object. They brought it home and hit it with a hammer, and it exploded.
00:08:56The child was killed, and another child's leg
00:09:00was amputated. This is a big problem facing the people of Deir Ezzor, Katherine.
00:09:04I will move to Hama with you, Alaa. Is there also
00:09:07a fear of mines moving from one area to another
00:09:11due to
00:09:13floods?
00:09:17Hello, Katherine. Indeed, there
00:09:20the areas of the eastern Hama
00:09:23countryside. The soil there is semi-desert,
00:09:27by floods and also by strong
00:09:31waters, and it also covers the mines
00:09:34in the area. There are large contaminated areas
00:09:38in the eastern Hama countryside and also in the Al-Ghab Plain
00:09:42where there
00:09:45lands contaminated with mines. Also in the northern Hama
00:09:48countryside, two weeks ago, Katherine, a child
00:09:52died and two other people were injured while
00:09:55they were working in olive harvesting. And this
00:09:59area, according to the responsible authorities, was surveyed
00:10:02before, and despite that, this mine exploded. And also two
00:10:06days ago, children were playing in the garden
00:10:09of the house with a cluster bomb also exploded.
00:10:12A child died and two other children were injured.
00:10:16And despite the fact that this family has been
00:10:18living in this house for a long
00:10:23that rains and floods and soil may
00:10:26cover mines and also pose an additional
00:10:30danger in those areas.
00:10:33In the town of Hamaamiyat, also in the northern Hama
00:10:36countryside, there are large areas contaminated
00:10:39with mines, and they are located
00:10:42near a hill, and this hill,
00:10:46with the rainfall, covers the mines, and war
00:10:49remnants may be swept to other
00:10:52areas. There is great concern among
00:10:55the residents, and they made several appeals, and we
00:10:58covered a protest by the residents there, and then
00:11:01the concerned authorities
00:11:05in the area, and until this moment, the campaign is ongoing.
00:11:09And with the beginning of the campaign, a mine exploded
00:11:12in a tractor
00:11:15or in a heavy vehicle working
00:11:18in the area and went out of
00:11:21service. This means that the contaminated areas
00:11:25pose a great danger to the residents, especially
00:11:28soil erosion and mine coverage may pose
00:11:33the mine-contaminated areas. Ibrahim, what about
00:11:36Idlib province? How does the map of mine distribution appear in which
00:11:40areas more?
00:11:41Yes.
00:11:46in Idlib province generally does not differ from other
00:11:50Syrian provinces, except that also, the area here
00:11:53has witnessed from time to time casualties among
00:11:57civilians as a result of the widespread
00:12:00mines, which are very hidden
00:12:03on the map. We are not talking today about
00:12:07officially known places where mines are present, but rather
00:12:11about the front lines that were previously with the overthrown regime's
00:12:14forces, meaning from areas of Al-Ghab Plain, in conjunction with the northern Hama
00:12:18countryside, from areas of the western Idlib countryside, specifically the Jisr
00:12:22Al-Shughour area and Jabal Al-Turkman in that area, reaching Al-Ghab Plain,
00:12:26reaching Jabal Al-Zawiya, the southern Idlib
00:12:29countryside, where I am now, and behind these areas, which were also
00:12:33among the areas most heavily mined, reaching
00:12:36the eastern Maarat Al-Numan countryside and the eastern Idlib countryside, reaching
00:12:40the western Aleppo countryside. This line, which
00:12:43is almost a semicircle, Katherine, was one of the most
00:12:48the presence of some survey campaigns
00:12:51conducted by Civil Defense teams and operations
00:12:55by engineering teams affiliated with the Ministry of Defense. However,
00:12:58there have been casualties since almost the fall of the Assad regime until
00:13:02now. We are talking about more than 60 civilians who died
00:13:06as a result of these mines. The last one was in April, four
00:13:09children in the southern Idlib
00:13:12countryside, and before that, three children in the Hbeit area, and then Civil
00:13:16Defense teams and engineering teams intervened, and also
00:13:20there were casualties from the Ministry of Defense as a result of working
00:13:23in that area. Therefore,
00:13:27in fact, what farmers primarily suffer from
00:13:30is the difficulty of accessing their agricultural lands,
00:13:34especially the areas here known for figs and olives,
00:13:38that had many mines. With the arrival
00:13:43areas, there are a number of explosions,
00:13:46in addition to children playing near
00:13:50their homes, especially in the town of Hbeit, when some
00:13:53children were playing near one
00:13:57of the schools, basically, the mine exploded
00:14:01and killed the three children. And after that, there were also
00:14:05four children playing near one
00:14:08of the old wells, but this well, unfortunately,
00:14:12also contained unexploded ordnance, and the explosion was very large
00:14:15in that area. Therefore, Katherine, there
00:14:19are maps that are still somewhat absent
00:14:22about the spread of these mines, but they are widespread
00:14:25in the eastern and western Idlib countryside and even in
00:14:29the southern Idlib countryside. However, according to preliminary
00:14:32information, the Minister of Emergency, Mr. Raed Saleh, said
00:14:36that there will be soon a map
00:14:39that will talk about the contaminated areas in all
00:14:43Syrian provinces, including Idlib, which also
00:14:46has high numbers of human casualties.
00:14:50Ibrahim, are there specialized teams for mine clearance working
00:14:54in Idlib?
00:14:57Yes, indeed, there are international organizations, such as Halo Trust, which
00:15:01we accompanied in one of our previous reports.
00:15:05It was working in Saraqib and areas
00:15:08in the eastern and western Idlib countryside, in addition
00:15:12to other organizations.
00:15:14However, there is also a government approach
00:15:18to have the work done through the Ministry of Defense, which works
00:15:21primarily in the southern Idlib countryside. We also
00:15:25accompanied the Ministry of Defense in the process of clearing
00:15:28these mines, but some
00:15:31locations that were known to the Ministry of Defense, Katherine,
00:15:34a very important point, when the aggression
00:15:38forces advanced to these areas previously, they found
00:15:42maps of these mines, so they were cleared. But other
00:15:46locations are still unknown until this moment,
00:15:49and therefore it is not possible to know all the locations
00:15:53where mines are present, but rather the reports
00:15:56that come from the residents about the presence of mines or even
00:16:00there is another type, we are talking about unexploded ordnance that
00:16:03spread from the camp area on the Syrian-Turkish border
00:16:06to areas in the southern Idlib countryside due to the continuous
00:16:10bombing for many years on Idlib areas. Therefore, there are still
00:16:13cluster bombs that have not exploded, there are bombs from warplanes that
00:16:17are still present in some areas, and the concerned
00:16:20authorities that are also working to clear them have been informed,
00:16:24and even the long-range missiles that used to fall here in the area.
00:16:28Thank you very much, Ibrahim Al-Sweid, you were with us
00:16:31from Idlib. And thanks also to our colleagues
00:16:34Alaa Al-Sweid from Hama and Musab Al-Han from Deir Ezzor.
00:16:38And about
00:16:40the topic, we are joined by Muhammad Muwais, Head of the Clearance Department
00:16:44at the Unexploded Ordnance Management of the Ministry
00:16:48of Emergency and Disaster Management from Damascus. Welcome,
00:16:51Mr. Muhammad. First of all, Mr. Muhammad, how
00:16:55do the mine clearance teams work
00:16:59with the absence of clear maps for mine
00:17:02distribution?
00:17:05Good evening everyone.
00:17:07In fact, today the suffering is great in dealing with
00:17:10the issue of mine clearance. The absence
00:17:13of these maps constitutes a major obstacle
00:17:17for the people who are carrying out this clearance. So we have great
00:17:21finding these mines or the clear
00:17:25locations that show the presence of these mines. So we always resort
00:17:29to technical survey of contaminated lands.
00:17:32We work very hard to reach
00:17:36the areas where mines are located so that we can determine the location of the mine
00:17:39so that we can remove this danger from
00:17:43our civilian people completely. If these maps were available
00:17:46completely for the mine distribution locations, the work would be
00:17:50much easier. It's not like having something
00:17:53random, contaminated,
00:17:56and unclear. So we are forced to put
00:18:00in more effort, more time, and more
00:18:03work to remove this danger from our civilian people completely. Oh, okay. And in this
00:18:07rainstorm that some areas in
00:18:10Syria witnessed, for example, in Deir Ezzor, a large
00:18:14mines were swept away. How will the
00:18:18new distribution of mines be known
00:18:20today, especially after the soil swept them away
00:18:23and soil accumulated thickly
00:18:26over them? In fact,
00:18:29the floods and rains that occurred recently
00:18:33and the floods that occurred in the desert areas greatly.
00:18:37As we saw two days ago, they swept away
00:18:40mines and ammunition very strongly
00:18:44from areas that were considered contaminated or previously
00:18:47marked with preliminary
00:18:50warnings and warning
00:18:53moved from dangerous areas to areas that were
00:18:57considered relatively safe previously.
00:19:00So this sweeping away of this ammunition actually
00:19:04poses a greater danger to us after
00:19:07the loss of land features, the loss of, excuse
00:19:11me, the loss of the warning signs that we had placed
00:19:15for these fields or contaminated areas. The immersion of this ammunition
00:19:19and mines
00:19:22to a very high depth in the soil will make it difficult to detect
00:19:25these mines or ammunition through technical search and metal
00:19:29detection devices. In fact, we are facing a major
00:19:31challenge, and it is very
00:19:35difficult, and things are difficult in
00:19:39these areas where soil erosion is occurring.
00:19:42Mines and ammunition are reaching valleys and riverbeds, and a lot
00:19:46of thickness is accumulating over them with soil
00:19:50and other things. So this matter is a very, very big
00:19:53obstacle for the work of mine clearance teams.
00:19:57So in these areas, do you have a new
00:20:00mechanism for mine
00:20:04clearance? Of course, today
00:20:07we will greatly increase the teams. We will go back
00:20:11and conduct non-technical surveys in the areas that were affected
00:20:14by floods, the areas that were dangerous. We will identify dangerous
00:20:18areas and prioritize less dangerous areas.
00:20:21We will identify riverbeds
00:20:24as very dangerous areas.
00:20:28Low-lying areas that had large water accumulations
00:20:32and large flood accumulations. After marking these
00:20:35areas completely, we will start, God willing,
00:20:39the technical survey operations, which will eventually lead
00:20:43us to clearing mines and unexploded ordnance.
00:20:46Uh, Mr. Muhammad, when we talk about the spread of mines,
00:20:50are we talking about a specific
00:20:52type of mine? No, of course. There are
00:20:57spread in Syria, anti-personnel mines
00:20:59and anti-vehicle mines, bounding mines,
00:21:03improvised explosive devices. There are many
00:21:06types that have spread
00:21:08in Syria, used by the former regime
00:21:11previously. Today, we have many
00:21:15currents, we have many conflicts
00:21:19in certain places, and control shifts from
00:21:22place to place. These areas spread
00:21:25with the forces that were supporting the former regime.
00:21:28Each supporting force had its own type of mines
00:21:32and its own type of devices. So we cannot specify today that the type of mines
00:21:36spread in Syria. We have
00:21:39each mine is more dangerous than the other. And in which
00:21:43governorates are mines most
00:21:46prevalent? In fact, all governorates
00:21:50in Syria were conflict zones for 14 years.
00:21:53So today, if we talk about contaminated areas, they are
00:21:56completely contaminated with ammunition and mines. But
00:22:00today, we can say that the areas that were front
00:22:04lines for many years are the areas with the highest
00:22:07mine prevalence, such as Idlib province from 2019
00:22:10to 2024, until the fall of the remote regime. It was a front line
00:22:14from Jabal Al-Turkman or Jabal in the Syrian
00:22:17coast to Aleppo countryside. All of these were
00:22:21front lines. So these areas had a large
00:22:23number of mines. The regime had randomly planted
00:22:27mines and an unimaginable number of
00:22:31hundreds of thousands of mines were planted in these areas, in addition to
00:22:34the desert areas, which also had a large number of mines. The eastern
00:22:38areas had many conflicts. We can say that all areas in Syria
00:22:41had conflicts and are contaminated, but the percentage
00:22:45varies between governorates. And what are the challenges
00:22:48you face today
00:22:52The major challenges, in fact, in the mine file are the lack of clear
00:22:56maps for the distribution and spread of mines completely.
00:23:00The spread of mines
00:23:02was
00:23:04random.
00:23:06The maps that were found are maps for some fields
00:23:10and have been cleared, such as areas in Idlib or Hama countryside.
00:23:14But the remaining mines were planted randomly,
00:23:17in a way that we are planting
00:23:21to kill people. Not necessarily, they were planting in places
00:23:25that they were tired of advancing on or retreating from, and so on.
00:23:28So the planting was random. This is one of the biggest challenges
00:23:32we face in the mine clearance file, the lack of clear
00:23:36maps for these fields. Uh-huh. And do you have sufficient
00:23:38and advanced equipment? Yes, today, we,
00:23:42as civil defense ordnance disposal teams,
00:23:46currently have technical equipment.
00:23:50We always strive for the best,
00:23:53of course. Technical matters in mine
00:23:57clearance are always evolving. Today, there are advanced
00:24:00drones, advanced detectors, advanced sweepers,
00:24:03and heavy machinery. We lack some of this equipment. We hope
00:24:07that in the future we will have this equipment to have
00:24:12and clear this danger faster and better.
00:24:15Okay, we are talking about mines scattered
00:24:19among civilian homes and also among
00:24:23farmers' orchards. How can farmers or
00:24:26even children protect
00:24:28themselves from these
00:24:31mines? Yes, today,
00:24:35the most common form we rely on
00:24:39is awareness messages or awareness sessions that we conduct, and awareness campaigns
00:24:42that we conduct in the community. Today, we are intensifying
00:24:46awareness campaigns in all Syrian governorates in the contaminated areas with ammunition
00:24:50and mines in order to raise awareness among people,
00:24:53among children, not to approach any strange object,
00:24:56not to attempt to touch or move it. And the same applies
00:25:00to agricultural lands. We always identify dangerous areas and
00:25:04less dangerous areas, and we warn civilians not to take
00:25:07unsafe or unused paths, and originally they had
00:25:11tall grasses that could
00:25:14former military barracks, bombed areas. All of these are
00:25:17dangerous areas where danger could be present. In addition
00:25:20to the work of our teams in clearing ammunition and mines continuously
00:25:24and daily around the clock.
00:25:28We wish you success and safety for everyone.
00:25:31Thank you very much, Muhammad Muwais, Head of the Clearance Department
00:25:35at the Unexploded Ordnance Management of the Ministry
00:25:38of Emergency and Disaster Management from
00:25:40Damascus.
00:25:52The southern Shaddadi countryside is witnessing
00:25:55an increasing spread of the black field cricket, which has invaded
00:25:59more than ten villages along the Khabur River,
00:26:03causing suffering for the residents, which led
00:26:06some families to leave their homes after
00:26:09failing to limit
00:26:11its spread.
00:26:17Today we are in the village of Al-Thalja. We are suffering from these insects.
00:26:22Of course, these insects have multiplied
00:26:25because our village is located on the bed of the Khabur
00:26:29River, and the Khabur River, you know, has
00:26:33salts, and I expect that these insects are a result of the salts and the agricultural
00:26:36lands that have not been cultivated for two
00:26:39years. So as a result of not being cultivated for two
00:26:42years, these insects have multiplied. After these rains
00:26:46that fell on us, the season of good that came to us, these
00:26:49insects appeared suddenly from this front.
00:26:52The first time they appeared, we said it was
00:26:56one or two days, but three days, by God,
00:26:59yesterday I got up and I was. I just
00:27:03want to say, I sleep in the black.
00:27:07By God, I felt like I entered the house. By God, I don't know what to say.
00:27:11From the chair here, God protect
00:27:14it from attacking. Oh, and you saw it with your own
00:27:18you to the room. Oh,
00:27:20by God,
00:27:22by God,
00:27:27For details, we have journalist Eid Al-Hilal from Hasakah.
00:27:31Welcome, Mr. If you could tell us about the spread
00:27:35Hasakah. Yes, hello, dear lady.
00:27:39Hello to all Syria TV viewers. Yes, after the recent wave
00:27:43of floods, swarms of what is known as the black
00:27:47field cricket invaded the villages of the Khabur
00:27:49line south of Al-Shaddadi to the east of
00:27:53Marqada district, extending over more than ten villages, including
00:27:57Sheikh Othman, Sheikh Hammoud, Al-Thalja, Al-Fadghami. This
00:28:00phenomenon is happening for the first time in the region. Its exact
00:28:04causes are unknown until this moment. Teams from the Ministry of Agriculture
00:28:08and the Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management went
00:28:11to the site in an attempt to find out if these
00:28:14crickets are poisonous or
00:28:17germ-carrying, meaning they could cause a certain disease
00:28:21or a certain germ. They confirmed that they
00:28:24do not carry poisons or
00:28:27germs, but they are rather
00:28:30peaceful insects.
00:28:32However, their large numbers
00:28:36among the residents, which led them to flee
00:28:39their homes, leave them, and displace
00:28:43to neighboring villages. The numbers are very
00:28:46large and huge. It is believed it was present in tunnels
00:28:50present in the area, as the area was a theater of military
00:28:54operations for a certain period, and due to floods and the submersion
00:28:58of these tunnels, these cockroaches appeared for the first
00:29:02time. The area is witnessing suffering among residents.
00:29:04Teams from the Ministry of Agriculture and teams from the Ministry
00:29:07of Emergency are trying by all
00:29:11the issue. Given the rarity of such an
00:29:14event, or that it is happening for the first time,
00:29:18or a preventive measure for this incident
00:29:22so far. I mean, are there any teams trying
00:29:27the area?
00:29:29Yes, teams from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Emergency
00:29:33are trying to combat them using pesticides, but the
00:29:36widespread infestation
00:29:39cockroaches
00:29:42completely eliminate them
00:29:46The swarms, the numbers are estimated in the millions. Approximately
00:29:49more than ten villages have been completely overrun.
00:29:53The houses in these areas are known for their high population
00:29:56density, and therefore, many housing units, almost
00:30:00most of the housing units and houses are completely covered, I mean,
00:30:04with blackness, you see nothing but blackness, and it's a phenomenon happening for the first time, honestly.
00:30:08And what do the residents demand
00:30:11today?
00:30:14The residents demand that more specialized and more experienced
00:30:17teams come to deal with the situation. They demand that the government
00:30:21deal with it more seriously, raise awareness in such
00:30:24cases, and deal
00:30:27with this situation and work to return the people
00:30:30who left their homes because of
00:30:32these cockroaches by combating them through large
00:30:36and massive teams covering the area,
00:30:40covering the housing units within these areas.
00:30:43At least, yes, there is a response, but it is a slow
00:30:46and timid response, below the required level. And the issue has been going on for
00:30:49four days now, not just a day or two, to say that the matter is new, but
00:30:53the response is still local, meaning, we can say in general terms, within
00:30:57Al-Hasakah Governorate, from Damascus and the rest of the