Al-Gosaibi to Asharq Al-Awsat: Houthis Have Turned Everyday Objects into Explosive Mines

Houthi landmines that have been concealed as rocks. (Masam Project)
Houthi landmines that have been concealed as rocks. (Masam Project)
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Al-Gosaibi to Asharq Al-Awsat: Houthis Have Turned Everyday Objects into Explosive Mines

Houthi landmines that have been concealed as rocks. (Masam Project)
Houthi landmines that have been concealed as rocks. (Masam Project)

One of the oddest explosives discovered by the Saudi Masam Project in Yemen was a bean can that the Iran-backed Houthi militias had booby-trapped to form a landmine.

Ousama al-Gosaibi, the program manager for the Masam Project, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis had designed the explosive in a way that it would explode the moment someone approached it.

Al-Gosaibi is the first Arab and Saudi to earn a United Nations degree in demining. The Masam Project has been working on removing mines in war-torn Yemen since 2018. The teams have so far removed over 386,000 explosives that have been planted arbitrarily by the Houthis.

Nearly 85 percent of the mines that have been removed by Masam were locally made and designed to inflict the greatest harm possible to civilians, said al-Gosaibi.

Masam teams are waging a war against the Houthis mines, he added.

As of the first week of February, the teams have removed 386,282 Houthi mines and explosives.

The teams, he added, are not removing traditional mines that are internationally recognized, but devices that have been developed by the Houthis.

Furthermore, he clarified that Yemen has also had to deal with mines that were planted during the past six wars. Those were traditional mines, but the Houthis introduced locally produced ones.

The most common mines discovered by Masam are ones that are designed to appear as regular everyday objects, such as rocks, bean cans, pieces of metal, and even palm tree trunks.

The Houthis would plant the explosives in civilian areas, such as farms, streets, schools, fields and even water sources, al-Gosaibi said.

The militias have planted explosives in 18 Yemeni provinces and Masam is operating in eleven: Sanaa, al-Hodeidah, Aden, al-Bayda, al-Jawf, Lahj, Marib, Shabwa, Taiz, al-Dhale and Saada. They have so far cleared 44,122,922 square meters of territory.

Masam is cooperating with the Yemen Executive Mine Action Center (YEMAC) to save as many innocent lives as possible from the danger of mines and explosives in liberated regions, added al-Gosaibi.

The Yemenis have proven their professionalism and competence in mine removal and they will pave the way for the development of specialized and experienced cadres that can carry out this humanitarian work in the future, he remarked.

Masam boasts 525 employees on the ground, including 32 teams operating in liberated regions. They have trained 450 Yemenis and are overseeing their work, revealed al-Gosaibi.

One of the main challenges facing Masam is the fact that the Houthis have planted mines arbitrarily, leaving no maps to indicate their locations, he explained.

Masam has had to rely on field sweeps and information collected on the ground, such as from citizens and unfortunately, when explosives are set off, which is a nearly daily occurrence.

Compounding the challenges are Yemen’s treacherous terrain and the Houthis’ ongoing planting of mines. In fact, some areas that have been cleared by Masam have again been planted with the explosives because the military operations have not stopped, al-Gosaibi lamented.



Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
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Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo

Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top UN expert on Palestinian rights, after the United States imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.

Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.

She has long criticized Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and this month published a report accusing over 60 companies, including some US firms, of supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and military actions in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work which had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged Washington to reverse course.

"Even in the face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures," he said, Reuters reported.

Juerg Lauber, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN who now holds the rotating presidency of the Human Rights Council, said he regretted the sanctions, and called on states to "refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal" against the body's experts.

Mariana Katzarova, who serves as the special rapporteur for human rights in Russia, said her concern was that other countries would follow the US lead.

"This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same," she told Reuters. "It is an attack on UN system as a whole. Member states must stand up and denounce this."

Russia has rejected Katzarova's mandate and refused to let her enter the country, but it has so far stopped short of publicly adding her to a sanctions list.

Washington has already imposed sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for suspected war crimes in Gaza. Another court, the International Court of Justice, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide.

Israel denies that its forces have carried out war crimes or genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza, which was precipitated by an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023.

"The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely," said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

The group's former head, Kenneth Roth, called the US sanctions an attempt "to deter prosecution of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza".

The United States, once one of the most active members of the Human Rights Council, has disengaged from it under President Donald Trump, alleging an anti-Israel bias.