Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Iranian Defense Minister to Al Mayadeen: Israeli threats to Iran are just pointless nonsense
Iranian Defense Minister to Al Mayadeen: Those who actually possess the power and ability to threaten Iran do not speak as such; they are simply incapable of doing so
Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh to Al Mayadeen: Iran possesses enough power to render 'Israel' incapable of threatening it
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem after meeting with Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi emphasized the importance of Iran’s positive role in the region and its support for the Palestinian Resistance and its people
Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi after meeting with Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem: Iran is keen to assist Lebanon and stand by its side economically and politically, on the basis of mutual respect
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, during which they discussed regional developments
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Gaza: The death toll from the Israeli massacre targeting a tent sheltering displaced persons inside a school west of Khan Younis has risen to 14
Trump calls China's Xi tough, 'hard to make a deal with'
Sayyed Khamenei: "Israel" will not be able to provide security for any country in the region
Sayyed Khamenei: Normalization with the Zionist entity is a disgrace that shall forever accompany countries that seek it

Ukrainian civilians probable victims of Biden's landmine approval: RS

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Responsible Spacecraft
  • 21 Nov 2024 17:38
  • 2 Shares
3 Min Read

Ukrainian civilians will pay the price for the Biden administration's approval of sending anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine, which the US Defense Secretary falsely claimed are safe.

Listen
  • x
  • In this photo provided by the Ukraine's 65th Mechanised Brigade press service on Nov. 19, 2024, Ukrainian soldiers attend a training in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine. (AP)
    In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanised Brigade press service on November 19, 2024, Ukrainian soldiers attend a training in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine. (AP)

A report by Responsible Spacecraft stated that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's claim that the anti-personnel landmines supplied by the Biden administration to Ukraine are safe is entirely false.

The Biden administration has authorized providing Ukraine with anti-personnel landmines for domestic use, reversing previous efforts to reinstate President Obama's ban on the use, production, transfer, and storage of indiscriminate weapons beyond the Korean Peninsula.

According to a US official to The Washington Post, the intention behind this reversal is to "contribute to more effective defense." 

The landmines, prohibited in 160 countries under an international treaty, are likely to be deployed mainly in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces are fighting to hold off the continuous advance of the Russian military, as reported by Responsible Spacecraft. 

Related News

Iran will not abandon uranium enrichment: Sayyed Khamenei

US to withdraw from Syria bases, retain one in al-Hasakah

The report emphasized that similar to the Biden administration's controversial decision to provide Ukraine with cluster bombs—an indiscriminate weapon whose unexploded ordnance can maim and kill civilians, especially children, for decades after use—this move may offer limited military upside. However, according to the report, this could pose substantial risks to Ukrainian civilians and is unlikely to shift the war's outcome in Ukraine's favor.

Austin revealed this policy shift to reporters during a visit to Laos, a country that the United States helped make the most heavily bombed nation in the world per capita, as per the report. 

The Responsible Spacecraft report pointed out that despite the irony of making this announcement in a country where 30% of its land is still contaminated with unexploded ordnance from the US military, Austin brushed off humanitarian concerns regarding the weapon transfer.

He claimed that landmines are "not persistent" and emphasized that "we can control when they would self-activate, self-detonate and that makes it far more safer eventually."

According to the report, arms control experts from the Committee on National Legislative Affairs have cautioned that the distinction between permanent and non-permanent landmines is "dangerously misleading", pointing to the well-documented failures of the self-destruct and self-disable features designed to make these weapons "safer" for civilians who may encounter them years after the conflict.

It added that the "smart mines" deployed by the United States during the Gulf War failed at a rate 150 times higher than the Department of Defense had reported.

  • United States
  • Biden administration
  • anti-personnel landmines
  • Kiev
  • Ukraine
  • Joe Biden
Russia & NATO

Russia & NATO

As the Draconian Western-led sanctions on Russia exacerbate the economic crisis worldwide, and as Russian troops gain more ground despite the influx of military aid into Ukraine, exposing US direct involvement in bio-labs spread across Eastern Europe and the insurgence of neo-Nazi groups… How will things unfold?

Most Read

Lebanon's PM Nawaf Salam meets with US envoy Morgan Ortagus in Beirut on April 5, 2025 (Dalati Nohra via AP)AP)

Morgan Ortagus to exit US role in Lebanon amid policy shift

  • Politics
  • 1 Jun 2025
Spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announces a new operation against Ben Gurion Airport on May 29, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemen announces successful hypersonic missile strike on Ben Gurion

  • Politics
  • 30 May 2025
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern occupied Palestine, Thursday, May 29, 2025 (AP)

Hamas rejects Witkoff ceasefire plan, says alters terms

  • Politics
  • 29 May 2025
It may well be due to the longstanding relationship between MI6 and HTS, via Inter Mediate, that Britain was the first Western country to recognise their assumption of government in Syria. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

How MI6 helped HTS seize Syria

  • Opinion
  • 31 May 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, lays a wreath at the tomb of martyred Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 3, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Iran's Araghchi visits Lebanon, honors martyr Sayyed Nasrallah

Israeli occupation forces inspect the site where the Israeli occupation forces said a projectile fired by Ansar Allah landed in the area of Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine on Sunday, May 4, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Yemen ready to strike 'Israel' around the clock, says defense minister

In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian steps out from his plane as he arrives at Muscat, Oman, on May 27, 2025. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
MENA

Pezeshkian: No talks under pressure or bullying

In this Thursday, April 21, 2016 photo, cattle graze by an Israeli military APC in the occupied Golan Heights, Syria (AP)
Politics

Pastoral settlement, new weapon for displacement in West Bank

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS