Though such weapons threaten civilian population for generations, Syrian government using landmines

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Syria alone using landmines in 2012: campaigners

AFP – The Syrian regime was the only government in the world to lay new landmines this year, campaigners said Thursday as they issued an annual report on the use and effect of the devastating weapons. Mark Hiznay, the editor of the report for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), said the finding.

Syrian troops mounted an assault on rebels near Damascus on Thursday, closing off the road to the airport before later securing it, authorities said, amid a widespread telecommunications outage. Meanwhile, as UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi hinted President Bashar al-Assad would have to step down.