The war in Syria damages the environment much more than anticipated. A large number of explosives, toxic waste and air pollution are mixed in water and soil. As a result, even though the war would finish, it will take decades for the nature to re-generate itself.

The cost of the war in Syria is very heavy: Many cities are now uninhabitable, hundreds of civilians escaped from the war in a refugee status and according to official figures at least two hundred thousand people died. However, as well as humanitarian and economic disaster, damage of the war to the environment is also horrific. In the Netherlands, a non-governmental organization “Pax” reveals the terrible consequences of the war in Syria in its research: a large part of the natural environment has been devastated permanently. Poisonous ammunition wastes, debris of houses and other wastes are mixing into the soil and polluting the water resources.

NGO Pax is one of the rare organizations that researches the impact of the military actions on the environment. Pax employee Wim Zwijnenburg made a statement on behalf of the platform that direct and indirect effects of the war began to be visible. Zwijnenburg also stated that “Environmental self-renewal in Syria will take at least 25 years. Until then water and land will be contaminated already, as a result, toxic substances will damage people’s health seriously.

Experts predict that the consequences of these will be heavy after considering the wars that happened in the past. For instance, the damage of the ecological system in Iraq could not renew itself since 2003. A large part of the natural diversity in Iraq was permanently destroyed and due to partial destruction of forests, some regions already turned into deserts. Furthermore there is a great danger of toxicity since the toxic substances are not exterminated as required. Experts of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are relating severely increased cancer rates and disabled child birth to the aforementioned reasons.

Nevertheless, Zwijnenburg indicates that 40% of the bombs dropped on Syria did not explode. Toxicants leaking off the barrels are mixing to the air and staying in the air longer because of the dry climate in Syria. Eventually people are breathing this poisonous air therefore some serious and fatal diseases would likely to emerge for the coming generations as Zwijnenburg mentioned.

In addition, the south part of the Syria is currently controlled by groups who have no information about oil production. Thus, the smoke in the atmosphere mixes into soil again as “black rain”. As a result, and for similar reasons, these devastated lands lose its efficiency and make cultivation impossible.

All in all, environmental effects of the war in Syria are terrible based on predictions. On the other hand performing on-site inspections today in order to learn these effects are also impossible as well as dangerous unfortunately.