- ARAB NEWS
- 04 May 2024
Since 1975
RIYADH: No amount of denial by Yemen’s Houthi militia could hide the crime they had been committing against the Yemeni people through their continuing mine-laying operations, the managing director of the Saudi-backed Project Masam demining initiative said on Wednesday.
Ousama Algosaibi, Project Masam’s managing director, said a total of 417,103 landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had been removed in Yemen since June 2018.
The explosives had been indiscriminately planted, posing dangers to civilians, he said.
“Bouncing and fragmentation mines in addition to camouflaged ones have been discovered. It’s hard to imagine someone booby-trapping bean cans to kill children, women, and the elderly in mosques, schools, farms, and areas surrounding water wells!” Algosaibi said in a series of tweets on his personal account on the X platform.
He said that all these remnants of war were detonated live for the world to witness, referring to the bulk demolition operations of Project Masam. He urged international and local organizations operating in Yemen to publish all their data and document their actions to ensure the world can understand the magnitude of the landmine crisis affecting Yemenis.
“50 million square meters of land have been completely cleared by the Project Masam teams. Every inch of it testifies to the Houthis’ crimes against Yemenis,” he said.
Algosaibi said the claims made by Houthis that the Arab Coalition had scattered about 3 million cluster bombs in Yemen were “misleading” and far from the truth. He referred to international reports indicating that the number of cluster munitions found over the past five years did not exceed 5,000.
“Whoever spreads death will never succeed in playing the role of victim. Even if all international theaters are opened to them,” he said.
