Almost all the vital facilities in Yemen have been damaged by the huge number of camouflaged landmines randomly laid across the country which have killed or injured tens of thousands of civilians since the beginning of the war.
On International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, we wanted to paint an accurate portrait of life in Yemen today, between camouflaged landmines and booby-trapped schools, water wells and healthcare centres.
Flagrant crimes
The supervisor of Project Masam’s teams in Taiz, in central Yemen, said that the Al-Shaab School in Akkad village in the Jabal Habashi district is one of many other schools in the governorate that suffered from landmines and other war remnants. The supervisor confirmed that at least 107 students in the area have been injured – with most of them tragically sustaining permanent disabilities.
For his part, the deputy director of the Education Office in Jabal Habashi district, Mr. Yasser al-Burkani said that the Al-Shaab School, which includes students from primary to the 9th grade, was turned into a weapons and landmines store during the war by the Houthi militia. When those explosives detonated, the explosion destroyed half the school building and caused severe damages to six classrooms. This led to a limited number of students being able to safely attend the school – with only 7th-grade and upwards able to – due to the lack of classrooms and the dangers of remaining landmines and ordnance inside the school.
The deputy governor of Al-Hodeidah governorate Waleed Al-Qudaimi, meanwhile, said that from the start of the war to date, the landmines and explosive devices laid by the Houthi militia in the western governorate of Al-Hodeidah resulted in the death and injury of 1,800 victims – most of whom are women and children.
In an interview with Project Masam’s Media Office, Al-Qudaimi said that the Houthi militia destroyed many vital infrastructures in Al-Hodeidah when they booby-trapped most of the governorate’s districts with an estimated one million landmines. These were laid in residential and agricultural areas, in addition to water wells and sources as well as other public facilities such as healthcare centres. This, Al-Qudaimi said, affected Yemenis’ sources of livelihoods in what he described as breaches of humanitarian laws and international conventions.
Planted to kill
In light of the international silence on the landmine crimes in Yemen including the lack of control over the Houthis’ use of landmines, those deadly explosive devices continue to kill and injured innocent civilians daily.
In the last few weeks, Five explosions occurred in Al-Hodeidah within 72 hours targeting 19 civilians most of whom were children. These explosions killed five people and injured 14 others.
Three explosions took place in Hays: one in Al-Danin, another in Al-Jah and a third in Al-Khamseen Street.
A landmine killed a young girl a few days ago in Hays in Al-Hodeidah. Her siblings – a boy and a girl, were injured.
Local sources also stated that a 16-year-old Yemeni girl called Sinai Ahmed Ali Khudeera was killed while her two brothers, 12-year-old Nasser and 8-year-old Ahmed were injured in the explosion of a landmine laid by the militia in their home village of Bani Mughazi.
Over the same period, the Yemeni Landmine Records, a group that documents landmine casualties, reported that five civilians were killed and six others (including children and one woman) were injured as a result of the landmines laid by the militias in six Yemeni governorates.
On its Twitter account, the group also added that two civilians were killed in the explosion of a landmine in Ad Durayhimi District, south of Al-Hodeidah, which has been described as one of the most landmine and war remnant-contaminated areas in the country.
Within the past few days, other civilians were injured in the governorates of Taiz, Al-Bayda, and Al-Hodeidah in the explosion of several landmines. The horrific accident resulted in serious injuries to four civilians on Al-Khamseen Street just in front of the May 22nd Hospital in the District of Al-Hali, in Al-Hodeidah.
In Taiz governorate, the Yemeni Landmine Records confirmed that a woman was severely injured in the explosion of a landmine in the Al-Majasha area of the Maqbanah district, west of Taiz. This occurred only a few hours after the death of 15-year-old Abdullah Muhamed Taher after a landmine exploded in the village of Dhawa in Al-Zahir district, Al-Bayda governorate.
The Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights, a non-governmental and non-profit human rights organisation, announced the death and injury of three civilians in two separate incidents in the governorate of Taiz, where Houthi militias deliberately laid a huge number of landmines in several districts, many of which they camouflaged in innovative ways.
In another incident, a child was killed and seven others were injured in the district of Al-Hawak – Al-Olya neighbourhood near Abkar Hatem Laboratory – in the governorate of Al-Hodeidah.
The victims, who hailed from the district of Ad-Durayhimi, had recently moved to Al-Hawak. They had failed to notice a solid object one of the family’s children had taken with him. According to survivors, the child had been hitting the object with a stone when it exploded causing a huge deflagration minutes before the Maghreb (sunset) call for prayer.
In its latest report, the Yemeni Landmine Records also stated that Al-Hodeidah governorate may be the most landmine contaminated region in Yemen.
Livestock was also targeted by landmines as several camels were killed in the explosion of a landmine laid by the militias in the district of Harib in the governorate.
It is in these difficult and tragic circumstances that Project Masam is working towards alleviating the pain and damage caused by landmines, through its teams’ humanitarian efforts.
Project Masam’s Managing Director Mr. Ousama Algosaibi said that between June 2018 and 31 March 2023, Masam teams have removed 393,022 landmines, unexploded ordnance, and explosive devices randomly laid by the Houthi militia in the different Yemeni governorates. Algosaibi added 45,367,536 square metres of liberated land have been cleared so far across 11 governorates in Yemen.
