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MAG established its program in Lebanon in 2000, initially conducting mine clearance operations after the Lebanese Civil War. The 2006 conflict between Lebanon and Israel resulted in significant cluster munition contamination, which threatened the lives of local communities in southern Lebanon. To reduce the risk to this population, MAG deployed highly-trained Lebanese technicians immediately following the ceasefire.
MAG's comprehensive approach to conflict recovery consists of the following activities:
- Community Liaison teams use participatory survey and information-gathering techniques to identify the threat to communities
- Battle Area Clearance (BAC) teams are used to locate and destroy cluster munitions
- Landmine clearance teams respond to the threat to communities from mines and other explosive items
- Mechanical assets and Mine Detection Dog (MDD) teams are used extensively to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of clearance operations
- An emergency project responded to the UXO contamination in the highly population Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in Tripoli
Since the end of the 2006 conflict, MAG has cleared over 23,000 items of UXO and landmines, benefiting over 160,000 people. This work has resulted in a safer environment that has enabled the improvement of livelihoods, infrastructural development, and economic recovery for the people of Lebanon. MAG supports the strategies and objectives of the Lebanese Mine Action Center (LMAC), which provides a longer-term response to the contamination of cluster munitions, mines, and UXO.
"This helps me in a direct way. Every meter of safe land is income I can regain."
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Adnan Fakih knows the dangers of unexploded ordnance (UXO) intimately. Fakih lost his right arm to an explosive booby-trap. Subsequently, explosive remnants of war nearly cost him his livelihood. His farm was littered with mines and cluster munitions as a result of past conflicts. What was once a prosperous 400,000 square meter farm was reduced by these dangers to a quarter of its former size, inadequate to provide for Fakih's family of eight. MAG continues to work on this site, gradually increasing the safe areas. Fakih explains: "This helps me in a direct way. Every meter of safe land is income I can regain." |