RIYADH: A Saudi-led humanitarian initiative in Yemen has seen a milestone 456,664 land mines and unexploded ordnance cleared since the start of the project in 2018, according to a recent report.
These include 296,954 items of unexploded ordnance, 145,016 anti-tank mines, 8,120 improvised explosive devices and 6,574 anti-personnel mines, according to Ousama Al-Gosaibi, the project’s managing director.
Overseen by the Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief, Project Masam continues to remove deadly devices laid in the war-torn country by the Houthis.
Last week, the project’s special teams destroyed 771 items of unexploded ordnance, 59 anti-tank mines, five improvised explosive devices and two anti-personnel mines.
The explosives, which were planted indiscriminately by the Houthis across Yemen, posed a threat to civilians, including children, women and the elderly.
Project Masam is one of several initiatives undertaken by Saudi Arabia on the orders of King Salman to help the Yemeni people, clearing routes for humanitarian aid to reach the country’s citizens.
The demining operations took place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Saada.
The initiative trains local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. It also offers support to Yemenis injured by the devices.
About 5 million people have been forced to flee their homes since the start of the conflict in Yemen, many of them displaced by the presence of land mines.
Masam teams are tasked with clearing villages, roads and schools to facilitate the safe movement of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
