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Rashida, a 13-year-old girl with a prosthetic leg, shared her story. She had been walking with her brother one day when she stepped on a landmine. She has never been to school, as the closest one to her village, in the Taiz Governate, was shut down after the Houthi’s invasion. She has had not only her education but her very mobility stolen from her in the wake of this conflict.
Civilians and medics from Al Mokha and other nearby villages have said that landmines have caused more casualties than the actual fighting, having been strewn randomly across the area, including in residential neighborhoods, parks, and playgrounds.
According to the Yemeni and Emarati armed forces supporting them, they have been regularly clearing 250-300 landmines per week in western regions alone. Furthermore, the Yemeni armed forces have stated that the Houthi militias have contravened international law by using banned landmines and randomly mining civilian homes and farms.
Brigadier General Muhsen Khadruf of the Yemeni Army stated the following: “When the population returns home after the coup, as happened in Marib, they will find mines hidden in their refrigerators, in their cupboards, on their doors, and around their farms. The militias’ use of anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines breaches international humanitarian law. Their weapons are designed to savagely kill.”
The Human Rights Watch has denounced these atrocities and condemned the actions of the pro-Iranian Houthi militias for their role in the death and maiming of hundreds of civilians, and for the displacement of those living in affected areas.
The Arab Federation of Human Rights, in their report, estimated that over 500,000 anti-personnel mines have been placed across Yemen by the Houthi rebels, killing over 700 people thus far. Only 40,000 of these landmines have been dismantled.