Gosaibi: MASAM Project Cleared Over 16,000 Mines, Unexploded Ordnance

MASAM Program Manager Osama Al-Gosaibi during a field tour in Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
MASAM Program Manager Osama Al-Gosaibi during a field tour in Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Gosaibi: MASAM Project Cleared Over 16,000 Mines, Unexploded Ordnance

MASAM Program Manager Osama Al-Gosaibi during a field tour in Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
MASAM Program Manager Osama Al-Gosaibi during a field tour in Yemen (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Project for Landmines Clearance in Yemen (MASAM) has cleared more than 16,000 mines, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices planted by Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemeni villages and towns, since its launch in late June 2018.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, MASAM Program Manager Osama Al-Gosaibi said that the majority of mines were Iranian made, while others originated from Russia and Eastern Europe.

He noted that the project employed 41 teams inside Yemen, including 32 demining teams and nine rapid intervention groups to neutralize explosive devices, while the total number of team members is around 430.

“We work from Marib as the headquarters and we have teams in the governorates of Shabwa, Al Jawf, Al-Bayda, parts of Taiz, Bab Al Mandab, West Coast… and two teams in Sanaa,” he stated.

Three members were killed during demining operations, he said, stressing that MASAM was a “purely humanitarian project”, with Saudi supervision and funding, that focuses on preserving the lives of the population in various Yemeni areas, including those under the control of the Houthis, noting that two teams were currently operating in Sanaa.

According to Gosaibi, MASAM Project has trained 32 Yemeni teams from the Yemeni National Demining Program, providing them with equipment, armor, and vehicles, as well as medical and logistical support under the supervision of Saudi and foreign experts.

“So far, we have cleared 16,000 mines, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices in various liberated areas where we operate,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Gosaibi continued: “We have about 20 people in Sanaa, and this confirms that we are not targeting only the liberated areas, but all the Yemeni territories without exception or distinction. The only challenge is not being able to supervise them directly, so we receive reports from them after a while.”

Asked about the types of mines cleared so far by MASAM, he said: “We have found many types; there are mines that were in the warehouses of the Yemeni army, including Russian mines or Eastern European; but there are a lot of mines imported from Iran, and there are mines manufactured locally, and we found them in abundance.”

“Houthi militias have planted these mines indiscriminately in cities, roads, houses, mosques, and schools. We can understand the planting of mines on military fronts and defensive positions on the battle lines, but we have found mines in villages, gardens, and schools, which means that these mines don’t have a military purpose but have become a tool for terrorism,” he affirmed.

Estimates showed that mine victims reached 1,800 people among those killed, injured and amputated, according to Gosaibi.

He noted that MASAM operated under the umbrella of King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action (KSRELIEF), and maintained coordination with the different Yemeni parties.

“We coordinate with all the parties on the ground, the legitimacy, the Coalition, and the Yemeni resistance; everyone is aware of our actions to facilitate our work,” he said.



Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
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Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon

The former US special envoy, Amos Hochstein, said the maritime border agreement struck between Lebanon and Israel in 2022 and the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah at the end of last year show that a land border demarcation “is within reach.”

“We can get to a deal but there has to be political willingness,” he said.

“The agreement of the maritime boundary was unique because we’d been trying to work on it for over 10 years,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“I understood that a simple diplomatic push for a line was not going to work. It had to be a more complicated and comprehensive agreement. And there was a real threat that people didn’t realize that if we didn’t reach an agreement we would have ended up in a conflict - in a hot conflict - or war over resources.”

He said there is a possibility to reach a Lebanese-Israeli land border agreement because there’s a “provision that mandated the beginning of talks on the land boundary.”

“I believe with concerted effort they can be done quickly,” he said, adding: “It is within reach.”

Hochstein described communication with Hezbollah as “complicated,” saying “I never had only one interlocutor with Hezbollah .... and the first step is to do shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon, Lebanon and Lebanon, and then you had to go to Israel and do shuttle diplomacy between the different factions” there.

“The reality of today and the reality of 2022 are different. Hezbollah had a lock on the political system in Lebanon in the way it doesn’t today.”

North of Litani

The 2024 ceasefire agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to take full operational control of the south Litani region, all the way up to the border. It requires Hezbollah to demilitarize and move further north of the Litani region, he said.

“I don’t want to get into the details of other violations,” he said, but stated that the ceasefire works if both conditions are met.

Lebanon’s opportunity

“Lebanon can rewrite its future ... but it has to be a fundamental change,” he said.

“There is so much potential in Lebanon and if you can bring back opportunity and jobs - and through economic and legal reforms in the country - I think that the future is very bright,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Hezbollah is not trying to control the politics and remember that Hezbollah is just an arm of Iran” which “should not be imposing its political will in Lebanon, Israel should not be imposing its military will in Lebanon, Syria should not. No one should. This a moment for Lebanon to make decisions for itself,” he added.