Syrian forces have laid mines near the borders of Lebanon and Turkey along routes used to escape the conflict in Syria, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. Its report documented multiple accounts from witnesses in Turkey, Lebanon and inside Syria who had either seen Syrian troops laying mines or been injured by mines. The United Nations, Meanwhile, said Tuesday that it would soon deploy human rights monitors in countries bordering Syria to collect eyewitness testimony on “atrocities” committed in the country. “We will be sending monitors for information collection and documentation of atrocities in bordering areas of neighboring countries later this week,” Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Human Rights Council. Opposition activists who have waged a year-long revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad's rule use Lebanon and Turkey to bring food, medicine and weapons into Syria. Thousands of Syrians have also fled the violence into Turkey and Lebanon. “Any use of anti-personnel land mines is unconscionable,” Steve Goose, Arms Division director at HRW, said. “There is absolutely no justification for the use of these indiscriminate weapons by any country, anywhere, for any purpose.” The report quoted a 15-year-old boy from Tal Kalakh in Syria who lost a leg in a land mine explosion in February while trying to transport a wounded person to Lebanon for medical treatment. Opposition activists in Syria say they fear arrest, torture and death at the hands of Syrian security forces if they seek treatment in Syrian state hospitals when they are wounded in protests or clashes with police and security forces. Turkey acceded to the international Mine Ban Treaty on September 25, 2003. Syria and Lebanon have refused to sign the treaty, which would require all landmines in their countries to be cleared. Nadim Houry, HRW's researcher for Syria and Lebanon, said that is was very hard to get the exact figure for the number of wounded by Syrian-placed landmines because most casualties occur on the Syrian side of the border. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied access into the country to rights groups and journalists. The United Nations says more than 7,500 people have been killed in unrest against Assad's government.
