Standing in front of the Zaid Oyoun school, which was damaged by a landmines, Ali Muhammad Abdo, Director of the Mawza Educational Department, told Masam that Houthi landmines have tragically impacted Mawza civilians, including young men, women and children.
Abdo confirmed that Houthi militias have been systematically planting landmines and improvised explosive items (IEDs), which have disrupted life in most of the villages and surrounding areas of Mawza district.
“I was an eyewitness to several incidents caused by landmines indiscriminately planted by the Houthi militia in the Al-Safaliyah and Bani Hazm areas, as well as the human and material damage militias left behind,” Abdo said.
According to the official, Masam’s demining teams are playing a crucial humanitarian role in clearing Yemeni territory of landmines, with Abdo highlighting how Masam’s teams have played a key role in securing villages, schools, farms and roads in his district.
Life returned to normal, students have gone back to their schools and farmers to their farms, Abdo explained.
Masam’s teams dealt seriously with these explosive threats and were able to secure save civilian lives from a large number of Houthi landmines, Abdo added.
Masam’s teams are continuing their clearance activities in Mawza district.
In a letter of thanks to Masam’s demining teams, meanwhile, Abdo welcomed the fact that Masam teams are currently carrying out survey and clearance operations in the north, south and west of the district.
Mawza is located in Taiz Governorate, one of Yemen’s heavily contaminated areas which have seen the majority of people injured or killed by explosive remnants of war (ERW), according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
