Hundreds of schools in Yemen have been deliberately targeted by the Houthi militias, who planted thousands of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). One of the students of the Al Shaab School, located in Jabal Habashi District, Taiz province, eight-year-old Hady Abdo Fadel, was injured after a explosive device detonated. “I was playing in my…
Since 2015, the Houthi militias have adopted the approach of planting landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) intensively and indiscriminately in all areas and villages they seized all over Yemen. Schools were one of the places deliberately targeted by the Houthi militias – they turned them into military barracks or littered them with landmines and…
The head of Jabal Habashi district, west of Taiz Governorate in Yemen’s southwest has warned that the majority of parents in his area had stopped sending their children to school because of the presence of landmines near or in these schools. On the other hand, some parents had no other choice but to send their…
The director of Yemen’s National Mine Action Programme has said that Project Masam demining teams have destroyed 450 anti-tank mines in the country’s southeast. Amin Al-Aqili, director of the Yemen Executive Mine Action Center (YEMAC), confirmed the landmines were removed from the west of Shabwah Governorate, which includes each of Usaylan, Bayhan, and Ain districts. Shabwah,…
Project Masam has announced its has located and destroyed 371,952 explosive devices in Yemeni liberated areas. These include 5,704 anti-personnel mines, 134,212 anti-tank mines, 7,571 improvised explosive devices and 224,465 unexploded ordnance neutralised over 40,473,438sqm of land since mid-2018. Since the conflict between Yemen’s pro-government forces and Houthi militias escalated in 2014, liberated strategic areas have been left littered with Houthi anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines, along with unexploded remnants…
A man of few words, Tawfiq Mohammad Abdallah Jalajel asked Project Masam to share his story – one sadly lived by many Yemenis survivors of landmine explosions. “I entered my home and at the door, there was an explosion, and lost consciousness. They planted mines everywhere,” Tawfiq said, as he condemned the Houthi militias’ use…
Like many farmers living in the resource-rich eastern Shabwah governorate, Abdullah Abdul Qadir was left fearing a landmine might end his life and that of his livestock. In 2015, the region and its Bayhan Directorate became a battleground between the Houthis and Pro-Yemeni government forces. As they retreated, the Houthis left behind landmines, unexploded ordnance and…
In Yemen, where family farming makes up for the majority of food production, landmines and other explosive devices are hampering access to farms. Tayyar Sulayman Omar Abdallah was on his way to work when a landmine detonated. “I left my home to go to the farm. A mine exploded under my car. My left and…
ike millions of Yemenis, Marwan Youssef Taleb and his family fled fighting in their home village. “We were displaced. When we left our home, we were surprised by a Houthi mine. My family was killed. My sister and my friend Moukhtar Ghaleb were also killed.” Gravely injured, Marwan was hospitalised in Aden, where both his…
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,…
