2.6.6. Conflict-related infrastructure damage and explosive remnants of war

According to a joint assessment by UNHCR, REACH and the Shelter Cluster conducted in the last quarter of 2025, Homs governorate recorded the highest proportion of communities (16 %) where more than 50 % of the housing stock was completely destroyed, closely followed by Hama (15 %).785 Homs governorate reportedly estimated that around 35 000 houses had been destroyed, while returnees faced difficulties in finding adequate housing and ‘prohibitively high’ rents in neighbourhoods that had remained intact.786 In early 2026, Syria’s national news agency SANA reported on a rubble-clearing campaign by the Homs City Council in cooperation with UNDP, covering 13 damaged neighbourhoods across the city,787 some of which, such as the area around the Khalediya Primary Healthcare Center (PHCC), remained ‘strewn with rubble and damaged buildings’, according to MSF.788

In early May 2026, the Syrian Ministry of Local Administration and Environment in cooperation with UN-Habitat published an assessment of conflict-related damages to various sectors of Homs’ public infrastructure. According to the report, 5.2 % of houses in Homs governorate were completely destroyed, while 7 % were severely, 9 % moderately and 10.1 % lightly damaged. Moreover, 63 schools were completely destroyed, 83 severely, 150 moderately and 231 lightly damaged. The report also assessed the state of Homs’ 239 bakeries, finding 35 completely destroyed, 4 severely, 8 moderately and 15 lightly damaged.789 A second report, published a few days earlier in late April 2026, noted that 32.4 % of the governorate’s hospitals were out of actual service. Four hospitals were completely destroyed, while eight were severely, eight moderately and three lightly damaged. Moreover, 43 clinics were either completely destroyed or severely damaged, 21 recorded moderate and 20 minor damages. In terms of places of worship, 48 mosques were completely destroyed, 78 were severely damaged, 62 moderately and 59 lightly damaged. The report also noted that two of the governorate’s churches were completely destroyed, while one was severely damaged and two others recorded moderate damages.790

According to a government official quoted by the New Arab, landmine and explosive ordnance (EO) contamination was concentrated in former conflict zones and frontlines such as Homs countryside.791 As of October 2025, IOM described the situation in the governorate as ‘critical’, noting that, while contamination was widespread, demining efforts were ‘minimal’ and reported only from 15 % of the affected communities;792 one example is Palmyra where, according to an army commander, several areas and key facilities were cleared of more than 4 000 landmines.793 According to UNHCR, Homs governorate was among the five governorates where most casualties from incidents involving EO were recorded in the period from December 2024 to the end of November 2025.794 The governorate also remained ‘heavily affected’ by lethal EO incidents in the first quarter of 2026.795 SNHR recorded 29 civilian fatalities due to landmine explosions across the governorate in the period from 8 December 2024 to early April 2026.796 During the reference period, several sources reported on incidents involving civilians being killed or injured in the explosion of war remnants,797 such as the explosion of a war remnant in an abandoned military barracks in the Al-Abbasiyah neighbourhood of Homs city in March 2026 that injured 31 civilians and damaged properties in the surrounding area.798