RIYADH: The Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance in Yemen dismantled 1,081 Houthi mines in the fourth week of January.
Overseen by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, special teams destroyed hundreds of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, unexploded ordinances and other explosive devices.
The KSrelief project, also known as Masam, is one of several initiatives undertaken by Saudi Arabia on the orders of King Salman to help the Yemeni people.
Masam teams clear routes for much-needed humanitarian aid aimed at supporting 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 384,220 mines have been cleared since the start of the project.
More than 1.2 million mines have been planted by the Houthi militia, claiming the lives of hundreds of civilians.
The Saudi project trains local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. It also provides support to Yemenis injured by the devices.
In June 2022, the project’s contract was extended for another year at a cost of $33.29 million.
Meanwhile, KSrelief carried out a project to empower and improve the living conditions of young people in the Al-Mahrah governorate of Yemen.
A total of 1,250 young people in eight governorates have benefited from the projects through vocational courses in 11 fields.
Elsewhere, KSrelief distributed food aid to flood victims in Sindh Province, Pakistan. The Saudi charity distributed 1,960 food packages, benefiting 13,720 people.
KSrelief also distributed 3,025 food parcels to Syrian and Palestinian refugees in several Lebanese regions, benefiting 15,125 people.
In Niger, 100 food packages were also distributed, benefiting 768 people.
Worldwide, KSrelief has implemented 2,246 projects worth more than $6 billion in 88 countries, in cooperation with 175 local, regional and international partners, since its inception in May 2015.
According to a recent report by the center, the countries and territories that benefited the most from aid were Yemen ($4.2 billion), Palestine ($369 million), Syria ($341 million) and Somalia ($232 million).
