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Int’l Report: Yemen Ranks Eighth in Fatalities from Explosives

MASAM removed 142,000 anti-tank mines and 6,400 anti-personnel mines. (MASAM)
MASAM removed 142,000 anti-tank mines and 6,400 anti-personnel mines. (MASAM)
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Int’l Report: Yemen Ranks Eighth in Fatalities from Explosives

MASAM removed 142,000 anti-tank mines and 6,400 anti-personnel mines. (MASAM)
MASAM removed 142,000 anti-tank mines and 6,400 anti-personnel mines. (MASAM)

The teams of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center's (KSrelief) Masam Project working on the western coast were astonished to uncover substantial quantities of shells strategically placed by Houthi forces near Bab al-Mandab.
This coincides with an international report that has placed Yemen as the eighth country with the highest casualties due to explosives, recording over 17,000 incidents.
The Masam team, engaged in demining operations, expressed surprise at discovering more than 250 unexploded shells laid by the Houthis.
In contrast to the hazardous aftermath left by Houthi activities, the Masam Team 26 is diligently working on clearing and securing an expansive area of approximately 300,000 square meters in Jahbar in Al Khawkhah in order to establish a solar power plant.
Since the project's inception, a total of 427,534 mines have been dismantled, according to MASAM Program Manager Osama Al-Gosaibi.
The total cleared area of Yemeni lands has reached 822,725 square meters since the beginning of January.
17,000 Casualties
A recent international report revealed that Yemen still ranks eighth in terms of civilian casualties by explosives, in which more than 460 civilians were killed during 2023, and more than 17,000 casualties in the past decade.
The latest global explosive violence monitor report from Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a London-based charity, reveals a disturbing surge in civilian fatalities and incidents of explosive weapon use globally in 2023, with a 122% rise in global civilian fatalities compared to the previous year.
Over the past decade, among the ten worst-affected countries and territories for civilian casualties of explosive violence were Syria (71,359), Iraq (45,398), Afghanistan (27,649), and Yemen (17,125).
Increased Displacement
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported a 75% increase in internally displaced individuals in Yemen in the first week of 2024 compared to the end of December.
Between 31 December 2023 and 6 January 2024, the IOM Yemen Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) tracked 21 households (126 individuals) displaced at least once.
The majority of people moved into/within the following governorates and districts: Marib (11 HHs) - most displacements in the governorate originated from Marib and Al Hodeidah - Taiz (8 HHs) - most displacements originated from Taiz -, and Al Hodeidah (2 HHs) - all displacements were internal.
IOM Yemen DTM tracked 9,977 households (59,862 Individuals) who experienced displacement at least once.

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Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
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Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)

In a nearly one-minute video, a young Yemeni man tells how he and his colleagues traveled to Russia on the promise of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering”, but ended up fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
The young man, whose face was covered, expressed with his colleagues their desire to return to Yemen. They said they did not wish to suffer the same fate as their friends and get killed.
Last Sunday, The Financial Times said in a report that Russia’s armed forces have recruited hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in Ukraine, brought by a shadowy trafficking operation that highlights the growing links between Moscow and the Houthi militant group.
Later in video recordings, young Yemeni men spoke about the practice of Houthi smugglers who take advantage of the difficult economic conditions of Yemenis to recruit hundreds of them, and send them to fight alongside Russian troops.
The network of traffickers operate from Yemen and other Arab countries, and coordinate with others within Russian territory.
The Houthi network recruited hundreds of Yemenis and sent them to fight in Russia, according to sources close to their families and others in the Yemeni government.
In one of the videos, a group of Yemeni recruits said they worked in Oman, when a medical equipment company founded by a Houthi politician, Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, lured them by promises of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering” in Russia.
They said they were promised a salary of $2,500 per month. But arriving in Moscow, they were received by a representative from the Russian Defense Ministry who told them they will work as security guards at Russian facilities.
Two days after their arrival, the recruits were sent to camps, where they trained for combat and received a salary of between $185 and $232 a month. They are now calling on the Yemeni government to intervene to return them to their country.
But another Yemeni, Ahmed, who is familiar with a group of recruits, explains that he and his friends had warned these young men not to go to Russia where they risk getting involved in the ongoing war.
The recruits told him that they could escape to Europe and seek asylum as hundreds of Yemenis did before.
However, after arriving with the help of a Houthi-linked medical company, many have apparently been coerced into the Russian military, forced to sign fighting contracts at gunpoint and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
A member of the Yemeni community in Russia told Asharq Al-Awsat that smugglers are luring Yemeni young men to go to Russia to work for salaries of up to $2,500 per month and are then transferred to Arab capitals, including Muscat, Beirut and Damascus, to be then transferred to Russian territory.
After their arrival, he said, the recruits are taken to weapons training camps, allegedly as employees of a security company. But they are later sent to fight on the front lines with Ukraine along with mercenaries from other nationalities.
Activists and members of the Yemeni community in Russia estimate that there are about 300 young Yemenis who refuse to join the fighting in Ukraine and want to return to their country.
“Those men were tempted by the dire economic conditions in Yemen due to the ongoing war,” the activists said.
A Yemeni recruit of the shadowy trafficking operation said that Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, a prominent Houthi politician, is one of the main recruiters. He is assisted by his brother Abdul Waheed, who was appointed by the group as director of Al-Masrakh districts in Taiz Province.
The recruit said that the group of traffickers includes Hani al-Zarriqi, who has been living in Russia for years, and Mohammed al-Iyani, who lives in a Yemeni neighboring country.
Two relatives of the recruits accuse al-Jabri and his aides of arranging the transfer of the young men from Yemen to a neighboring country, and from there to Moscow, on the pretext of working for private security companies. The traffickers receive a commission of between $10 and $15 thousand per person.