The project ran by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) for clearing landmines in Yemen, MASAM, managed to remove 3,000 landmines, explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance in October.
Osama Al-Gosaibi, the project director, said that the teams that have been working in more than 11 Yemeni provinces since June 2018 continue to discover more mines randomly planted by the Houthis after each truce.
Al-Gosaibi added that planting mines by Houthis is accelerating and expanding in scope.
MASAM reported on Sunday that 688 landmines planted by Houthis were removed across Yemen during the fourth week of Oct. The mines removed include 10 anti-personnel mines, 123 anti-tank mines, 553 unexploded ordnance, and two explosive devices.
The total of cleared mines reached 2,894 in October.
Since the beginning of the project, as many as 419,997 mines, explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance planted by the Houthi militias have been dismantled. The mines have killed thousands of Yemenis including women, children, and seniors.
The UN mission to monitor the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement in Hodeidah announced that the toll of civilian casualties due to mines have more than doubled in August. More than 20 were killed and wounded in 13 incidents. This represents an increase of 122 percent compared to July when five were killed and four were wounded.
Al-Gosaibi described the MASAM project as a bold step by the Saudi leadership. Thanks to the leadership, the first program to dismantle mines was established during an ongoing war to protect the Yemenis, he added.
He further urged all international and local organizations operating in Yemen to publish their data and document their work so that the world gets introduced to the catastrophe in Yemen caused by the Houthis' insistence to kill civilians by planting random mines.
MASAM works on clearing 11 provinces including Sanaa, Hodeidah, Aden, Al-Bayda, Al-Jawf, Lahj, Marib, Shabwa, Taiz, Al-Dhalea, and Saada.
The teams include 525 employees, including 32 teams that have trained, equipped, and supervised 450 Yemenis.
The operations room contains the field team for demining, administration, logistical support, and security support staff. They are supported by 30 technical experts and rapid response teams.
