Direct proof of use
Landmine Monitor reporting identifies the Syrian Army as having used Soviet/Russian-origin mines since 2012, including TM-62 anti-vehicle mines, along Syria's borders with Lebanon and Turkey. That reporting supplies the direct public link between the TM-62 family and Syrian government mine warfare during the 2011 Syrian Civil War.
Human Rights Watch documented the underlying border mine-laying pattern in March 2012, reporting witness and deminer accounts of Syrian forces placing mines near the Turkish and Lebanese borders and noting that opposition-associated deminers had cleared both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines of Soviet/Russian origin.
Sources: Russian Federation Mine Ban Policy 2021, Syria: Army Planting Banned Landmines
Timeline
The first reports of Syrian government landmine use in the civil war emerged in late 2011 on the Lebanon border, where an official acknowledged border-control measures that included planting mines.
By March 2012, Human Rights Watch had collected accounts of new mine-laying near routes used by people crossing into Turkey and Lebanon. Landmine Monitor later summarized the Syrian Army's use since 2012 as including TM-62 anti-vehicle mines.
Sources: Syria Mine Ban Policy 2025, Syria: Army Planting Banned Landmines, Russian Federation Mine Ban Policy 2021
Narrative
In Syria, the TM-62 appears in the public record as a government-side anti-vehicle mine rather than as a separately documented munition in a named battle. The reported employment was border and route denial: mines were laid near crossing areas on the borders with Lebanon and Turkey during the early phase of the war.
The TM-62 is a Soviet/Russian anti-tank blast mine series used against tracked and wheeled vehicles. Technical references describe the TM-62M and related TM-62 series as manually or mechanically emplaced anti-vehicle mines, which matches the mine-warfare role described in the Syrian border reporting.
Later Syria-focused mine-action reporting describes nationwide contamination from landmines and explosive remnants after more than a decade of conflict, but it generally does not identify individual TM-62 incidents. The specific catalog claim is therefore limited to Syrian Army use of TM-62 anti-vehicle mines in border mine warfare since 2012.
Sources: Russian Federation Mine Ban Policy 2021, Landmine, AT, TM-62M, Syria: Landmines, Explosive Remnants Harming Civilians
