"As of today, Syrian bomb experts have found and defused 1,200 mines, 1,500 tons of explosives and 4,000 improvised explosive devices. The full mine clearance in the city will take up to three months," Russia’s Syrian reconciliation center said Thursday.
A spokesman for the center told reporters that Syrian experts find 200-250 mines and IEDs in the city each day. He added that the devices bore NATO markings.
Syrian government troops retook Douma last month after the last militants were bused out of the town on April 13 as part of a Russian-brokered deal. A total of 21,000 fighters and their family members were evacuated from Douma.
Internal Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Abdallah Garbi said that the city, recently cleared from militants, would receive massive humanitarian assistance, noting that the ministry was assessing damage to buildings, adding that most of the damage was not significant and repair work would be carried out in the near future.