Direct proof of use
Human Rights Watch identified YM-1 anti-personnel mines in the Syrian Civil War through clearance evidence from Kafr Nabl, a village south of Idlib. In its April 2025 report on landmines and explosive remnants in Syria, HRW wrote that residents described the Syrian army forcing households out between 2018 and 2019, turning the village into a military base, and mining the area along territory then controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Shams.
The model-specific evidence came from January 2025 clearance work after Assad's government fell. HRW reported that a clearance team found OZM-72, PMN-1, YM-1, POM-2S, PMN-type antipersonnel mines, and YM-2 and YM-3 anti-vehicle mines during operations around Kafr Nabl. The IMAS technical note identifies the Iranian-produced YM-1 as a copy of the Italian Tecnovar TS-50 anti-personnel mine, so this Syria record covers the YM-1 copy branch rather than confirmed Italian-made TS-50 stocks.
Sources: HRW 2025 Syria Landmines Report, IMAS YM-1(B) Technical Note
Timeline
The supported sequence begins in 2018-2019, when Kafr Nabl residents said the Syrian army emptied the village and used it as a de facto military base. HRW's reporting links that period to mine emplacement around homes and agricultural land near the base.
After the fall of Assad's government on December 8, 2024, residents began returning to the village. In early January 2025, one volunteer team cleared at least 70 mines, and on January 15 another team arrived; during those clearance operations, HRW's source identified YM-1 among the additional mines found.
Sources: HRW 2025 Syria Landmines Report
Narrative
In Syria, the TS-50 entry is tied to documented minefield contamination through the Iranian YM-1 copy rather than a recorded shipment or battlefield recovery of an Italian-manufactured TS-50. The documented user in the Kafr Nabl account is the Syrian army, and the supported location is the Idlib countryside around Kafr Nabl and nearby Fatatra.
The mine's conflict role is antipersonnel area denial and defensive holding. HRW's reporting places the YM-1 mines in fields and return areas around a former army base, while IMAS describes YM-1 as an anti-personnel mine copied from the Tecnovar TS-50 and treats the related YM-1(B) variant as a minimum-metal mine for detection purposes. The available public sources do not identify the exact YM-1 production lot, emplacement pattern, or Syrian unit responsible for each mine found after the front line shifted.
Sources: HRW 2025 Syria Landmines Report, IMAS YM-1(B) Technical Note
