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No matter how fierce a conflict, there exist charters and standards that govern the use of certain weapons, in this instance, landmines. Their placement is to be documented in maps and locations clearly marked with warning signs – and this is only with regard to anti-tank mines. Anti-personnel mines, by contrast, are internationally prohibited.
The Houthi militia’s use of landmines has broken all international conventions and norms. They scatter mines haphazardly, to a degree that has not been seen in decades. They have deliberately placed mines in unthinkable places, as a means of instilling terror in the population.
Yemen is a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty, often referred to as the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention. Generally speaking, anti-tank mines require a great deal of pressure to detonate. Despite that, Houthi militias have managed to devise methods of reducing that amount, effectively converting anti-tank mines into devastating anti-personnel mines. This is, quite simply, a war crime. Their only intent is to kill Yemenis.