Ali Hadi Rashid, Leader of Team 27, told Project Masam his team has been commissioned to survey an area near Al-Omari school in the Dhubab area in the Taiz Governorate of south-western Yemen following local reports.
Located on the country’s Red Sea coast, south of the city of Al Hudaydah, Dhubab had been a power keg since the conflict between pro-government forces and Houthi militias escalated in 2014. The strategic area was liberated in 2017, but was left littered with Houthi anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines, along unexploded remnants of war.
“We have been working in this area, which is just south of Al-Omari school, based on information from the students about the presence of shells and the explosion of one of the landmines planted in this area,” Rashid said.
The team have so far discovered eight shells and a number of warheads and other fuses. The team’s work continues to ensure the area is safely returned to the local population, and students can go back to school without fear.
In the last week alone (16-22 October 2021), Masam teams operating in Dhubab cleared 37,300sqm of land and destroyed four anti-personal mines, seven anti-tank mines and nine unexploded ordnance (UXO).
Since it first entered Yemen in mid-2018, Project Masam has located and destroyed 282,878 explosive devices, effectively clearing 27,339,657sqm of Yemeni liberated land.
