Edinburgh-raised dad, 61, is leading the fight to clear Iraq’s deadly landmines

While people across the world have had a quieter year than normal, 61-year-old Frank Philip has spent 2020 dodging danger in the war-ravaged state as he returned to lead the fight against deadly landmines as HALO’s Programme Manager in Baghdad.

Over the year he has seen his team clear over 1,000 deadly devices, including 700 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) 400 unexploded grenades and mortars and reached a landmark 1,000 IEDs wiped out since starting its demining operations in Iraq in August 2018.

Mr Philip was also caught up in Iranian missile strikes in Northern Iraq following the US killing of top General Qasem Soleimani in January.

Former Stewart’s Melville College pupil Frank said: “2020 has been an unusual year for us. We had a bad start with the Iranian-American tensions over the death of Major General Qasem Soleimani.

“We’d been instructed not to go into Baghdad because the Iranians had vowed to respond so we made the decision to re-locate to Erbil in the north.

“Of course, no sooner had we got here, than the Iranians launched their ballistic missile strikes against American bases in Anbar province and at Erbil airport, right beside where I am at the moment.

“It was bad for a long period of time with attacks on US bases. There were constant attacks against contractors for the US troops, with logistic convoys getting hit on the main supply routes.

“There was a lot of indirect fire happening. There’s no getting around it is a hostile environment. You’ve also still got the remnants of ISIS causing trouble not far away from some of the areas where we are operating.

“We paid very close attention to the security situation, but we haven’t yet had to suspend our operations because we work closely with the Iraqi authorities.

“I’m currently in Kurdistan, where the Turks are conducting all sorts of operations against the PKK in a fight that’s been raging for decades.”

The UK Government is a key donor to the UN Mine Action Service’s demining efforts in Iraq, having provided £15.7million since 2018.

UK aid is supporting all three of HALO’s demining projects in Anbar province in western Iraq.

While the threat of Iranian missile strikes and ISIS could not stop brave Frank’s team, coronavirus did.

He explained: “All our operations were suspended when the Iraqi government understandably put the country into lockdown.

“We kept people in place during the height of the pandemic so that when we did get the green light to go back to work in mid-June, we could do so with the minimum of delay.

“And despite the stop-start nature of this year, we’ve removed the threat of over 1,000 explosive weapons. Destroying our 1,000th IED since we started our operations in August 2018 was an encouraging landmark.

“The standards of IED we are pulling out the ground are like a 20 litre jerry can with a fuse, a power source, and a switch, which is a pressure plate normally.

“They are designed to make a big bang and if something that size detonates underneath you, there’s only one result.

“These IEDs will remove all traces of you if they function and there’s still a lot out there.

“You see a lot of limbless people in Iraq, mostly to do with violence over the last 30 years.

“A young shepherd was killed close to where we are working in Ramadi earlier this year, and five children playing with a mortar bomb in Fallujah were killed close to one of our sites last year.”

Mr Philip served 30 years in the army with regiments including the Gordon Highlanders. He was awarded an MBE in 2004 for planning and implementing the military response in Scotland to the fire fighters’ strike in 2002.

He’s been based in Baghdad as HALO’s Programme Manager since 2017 and over the past year his team has cleared 750,000 square metres using armoured machines, destroying 700 IEDs and 400 unexploded grenades, mortar bombs and artillery shells.

He said: “I think one of the most spectacular things that happened this year was on July 4. Our villa is right in the centre of Baghdad, and I was sitting at my desk and there was this sound like a jet going overhead and then it just stopped.

“Somebody was up on the roof sunbathing, and he came running down saying ‘You’ll never guess what’s happened?’.

“The Americans were test firing the new C-RAM system – a counter rocket, artillery and mortar defence designed to shoot down any incoming missiles.

“I’m sure there was no accident about the date and it made for some fourth of July firework display all afternoon.”

HALO, based in Thornhill, near Dumfries, was founded in 1988 and now removes mines and devices in 27 countries and states.

Some 8,000 people worldwide are killed and injured by landmines and other explosive devices every year and 78 per cent of the casualties are civilians.

The UK Government has committed £272m in humanitarian support to Iraq since 2014, providing life-saving healthcare services to over 4.3m people, and safe drinking water, toilet and shower facilities to more than 3.5 million people.

Its Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has spent £16.9million in 2020 to help Iraq respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

Minister for the Middle East James Cleverly said: “Landmines are indiscriminate weapons of war that maim and kill innocent men, women and children. Their devastation lasts long after conflict has ended.

“I am proud that the UK Government is working with it to help rid Iraq of these deadly explosives.

“The UK is deeply committed to clearing landmines across the world, so no one has to live in fear of one wrong step.”

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