After Project Masam’s Team 4 cleared a minefield in a liberated area in Marib governorate, local children arrived on the clearance site asking if they could play football in the river bed. The team had been called following two accidents in which a goat herder lost a leg and one of his goats was killed.…
Like many children and teenagers in Yemen, Saeed Hassan was the main shepherd for grazing animals in his family – one of the riskiest activities for civilians living in contaminated areas where the risk is unknown. He recalls is story: Four friends herding their sheep. An explosion. Death and trauma. Pain and a life changed…
One of Project Masam demining team has confirmed it located and cleared 52 anti-personnel landmines from a civilian area in just two days. Because of their indiscriminate nature and humanitarian impact, anti-personnel mines are prohibited under international humanitarian law, the 1997 Mine Ban Convention and Yemeni law. Since mid-2017, Houthi militias’ widespread use of anti-personnel…
Four civilians from the Al-Tahita District in Al-Hudaydah Governorate have been injured in a landmine blast, Project Masam can confirm. Masam’s humanitarian mine clearance teams operate throughout Yemen in seven Governorates, including Al-Hudaydah located on Yemen’s west coast. The Governorate has been badly affected by Houthi landmines which continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of…
As the battle for the strategic northern city of Marib continues to flares up between government forces and Houthi militias, Project Masam clearance teams have been adapting activities and approaches amid these moving frontlines. “We are not allowing the Masam Teams to work in areas where they might be harmed due to the ongoing battles…
Project Masam has raised the alarm over the Houthis’ use of children to plant landmines and other explosive items across Yemen. This warning comes after the United Nations (UN) last month condemned the Houthi rebels’ large-scale recruitment of children and grave abuses recorded against minors. During the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary…
Ali Ahmed Abdullah was displaced when the conflict reached his village. When his area was liberated, he decided to return home. Ali did not know the land had been heavily mined by Houthis militias before it was liberated. As he looked forward to normalcy and settling back in his home after a long period of…
Khalid Nagi Saeid, Ghadeer Abdallah, Fatima Mohammad Haidar, and Saliha Abdah and their families are just a fraction of the four million people who remain displaced by war and violence in Yemen today. Landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosive remnants of war (UXO) continue to threaten the safe return of millions of IDPs and…
Thousands have been killed by Houthi forces in Yemen between 2019 and 2020, according to the latest report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). ACLED’s annual review reviews the past 12 months of data on political violence and demonstration activity around the world. Despite the overall decline, political violence actually increased…
When we first met Saliha Abdah outside her simple house made of concrete blocks, she avoided our gaze. Her three young children huddled around her; she slowly started telling her story. “We were displaced when the war started; the Houthis entered our region and planted landmines. I went to the mountain to collect wood. Suddenly,…
