Overseen by Saudi aid agency KSrelief, the project’s special teams destroyed 926 unexploded ordnance, 112 anti-tank mines, 15 explosive devices, and two anti-personnel mines.
The devices, planted indiscriminately by the Houthis across Yemen, pose a significant threat to the lives of innocent people, including children, women and the elderly.
Masam is one of several initiatives undertaken by Saudi Arabia on the orders of King Salman to help the Yemeni people, clearing routes for humanitarian aid to reach the country’s citizens.
The demining operations took place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Saada.
A total of 410,701 mines have been cleared since the start of the project in 2018, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday.
The project trains local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. It also offers support to Yemenis injured by the devices.
In June, the project’s contract was extended for another year at a cost of $33.29 million.Masam, a Saudi project to clear land mines in Yemen, has cleared more than 400,000 mines, explosive devices and unexploded ordnance since it was launched in 2018, the project’s director said.
However, the threat still looms large, with no clear end in sight, Osama Al-Gosaibi added.
“Yemen is facing a major crisis regarding the issue of mines, which requires more serious and rigorous action to be taken by the international community. There are no promising prospects when it comes to putting an end to this tragedy,” he said.
Al-Gosaibi highlighted the scale of the threat, saying the Houthi’s insistence on targeting Yemenis by planting different types of mines in several regions ignored international humanitarian law.
Explosive devices cleared by Masam included a large number of camouflage mines, he said.
“They make explosive devices that look like rocks, and they also created mines that were actually traps. Therefore, it can be said that they are not only targeting civilians, but also the people who will come and try to clear these mines. They are targeting the teams working on the ground. “Today, we can say that the anti-personnel mines made by Houthis in Yemen have become deadly, as they do not only aim to cause injuries, but also death.”
Al-Gosaibi said that Yemeni teams have been reorganized and equipped to take part in the National Mine Action Program.
“We are mainly working on guiding and supervising these teams because the Yemenis themselves will remain in Yemen to carry on with the mission in the long run,” he said.
Referring to the likely end of the mine crisis in Yemen, Al-Gosaibi said that “if enough funding, teams and information are made available to us, I believe that it will require another 10 years.”
