Direct proof of use
Landmine Monitor's Syria mine-ban profile gives the clearest public POMZ-2-specific indication in the 2011 Syrian Civil War. Its 2022 country profile cited an undated photograph circulated on social media in May 2019 that showed a Syrian Army soldier emplacing stake-mounted POMZ-2 fragmentation mines and tripwires on farmland near Kernaz, in northern Hama.
The Monitor's 2025 Syria profile retained the same incident as the last concrete indication of possible new antipersonnel-mine use after its separately documented 2012 Syrian government mine-use record. The 2025 profile also states that Syria's mine stockpile was believed, from evidence of mine use, to include Soviet/Russian-manufactured POMZ-2 antipersonnel mines.
Sources: Syria Mine Ban Policy 2022, Syria Mine Ban Policy 2025
Timeline
The broader Syrian government mine-use record began in late 2011, when Human Rights Watch reported that a Syrian official had acknowledged border-control measures that included planting mines. In March 2012, Human Rights Watch documented Syrian army mine-laying near the Lebanese and Turkish borders, including PMN-2 antipersonnel mines and TMN-46 antivehicle mines, but that reporting did not identify POMZ-2.
The POMZ-2-specific milestone came in May 2019, when the circulated Kernaz image was posted and later cited by the Monitor. The public record therefore supports a narrow entry: Syrian government-side POMZ-2 emplacement is indicated by the 2019 image, while earlier 2011-2012 reporting supports government landmine use in the conflict without naming this model.
Sources: HRW Syria Army Planting Landmines, Syria Mine Ban Policy 2022, Syria Mine Ban Policy 2025
Battlefield role
In the Syrian record, the POMZ-2 appears as a manually emplaced antipersonnel area-denial mine rather than a delivered munition or vehicle-laid mine system. The Monitor-described Kernaz image ties the mine to farmland in northern Hama and to a Syrian Army engineer, matching the weapon's normal tripwire stake-mine role: creating a persistent fragmentation hazard across likely movement routes.
Available public sources do not establish a complete POMZ-2 incident list, casualty record, or order of battle for Syria. They support Syrian government-side use through the Kernaz image citation and support broader Syrian mine-use and stockpile context, but they do not show that every Syrian government minefield included POMZ-2 mines.
Sources: Syria Mine Ban Policy 2022, Syria Mine Ban Policy 2025, HRW Syria Army Planting Landmines
