For more than a decade, Yemen’s communities have lived among landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unexploded ordnance (UXO).
Since our launch in mid-2018, Project Masam’s Yemeni and international specialists have located and destroyed more than 504,000 explosive threats, clearing over 68 million square metres of land; a task that saves lives every single day. Yet myths persist about what mine action really involves and why it matters.
Below we set the record straight with the ten misconceptions we hear most often, and the truth behind them.
Myth 1 – “All mines in Yemen are old and inactive.”
Truth: That myth quickly dissolves under the scale of recent findings.
While Yemen has a long history of mine contamination from earlier conflicts (including the 1960s civil war in the north, the 1970s and 1980s border disputes, and the 1994 civil war) it was actually on the path toward being considered “mine-impact free” by the early 2000s. With support from the international community, national authorities had mapped, marked, and cleared many of the known legacy minefields, particularly in southern governorates.
However, that progress was sharply reversed after 2014 with the escalation of the current conflict and the rise of Houthi control in various regions. Unlike earlier conventional warfare, where minefields were generally documented, the Houthis have been accused of laying hundreds of thousands of undocumented and deliberately concealed anti-personnel and anti-tank mines – including disguised IEDs, booby-trapped civilian items, and even toy-like devices meant to attract children.
These new threats are not just active, they are increasing. As of July 2025, Project Masam alone has cleared over 504,000 explosive devices, including anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines, booby-trapped every day items, other improvised explosive devices, and UXO. Every week, Project Masam teams find hundreds of newly laid or still-active explosives, often in roads, water access points, farmland, and homes.
The contamination is so severe and widespread that areas previously cleared (such as in Hays, Hudaydah) have had to be re-cleared two or even three times due to re-mining by Houthi forces. This underscores a grim reality: while Yemen had nearly reached a marginally mine-safe status in the early 2000s, it is now considered one of the most heavily mine-contaminated countries in the world.
So, far from being “old and inactive,” landmines in Yemen are a growing, deliberate, and deadly threat, especially to civilians returning to previously liberated or rural areas. The danger they pose is immediate and long-term, and it will take years – even decades – of sustained clearance to reverse the damage.
Myth 2 – “Demining is just about removing landmines.”
Truth: Humanitarian mine action is a full spectrum of activities.
Yemen’s mine action goes far beyond detonation work. Indeed, Project Masam operates under international mine action standards (IMAS), employing 32 local teams and eight explosive-detection dogs.
Their scope includes survey & mapping, mine-risk education for schools and communities, victim assistance, advocacy, as well as the destruction of locally-manufactured threats and child-targeted “toy” IEDs.
Myth 3 – “Only the military is involved in mine action.”
Truth: In Yemen and many other conflict-affected countries, it’s a common misconception that mine clearance is purely a military task. In reality, military demining is typically limited to tactical objectives: clearing paths for troops, securing bases, or removing immediate battlefield threats. It’s fast, targeted, often temporary, and focused on mobility and security during combat.
Project Masam, by contrast, operates under a humanitarian mine action model. This approach is civilian-focused and designed to protect lives and restore safe access to essential services like farmland, roads, schools, and water points. Project Masam’s work follows International Mine Action Standards (IMAS), with a strong emphasis on safety, documentation, long-term monitoring, and community impact.
The project employs over 32 Yemeni clearance teams, trained and equipped to work in residential, rural, and infrastructure-heavy environments; not just former battlefields. In addition to clearing landmines, IEDs and UXO, Project Masam supports survey and mapping, explosive risk education, victim assistance, and technical training for national partners. Its teams also destroy IEDs and booby traps, which are often beyond the scope of conventional military units.
The efforts is deeply civilian and collaborative. In addition to technical experts from outside Yemen, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community leaders are integral, receiving training and capacity-building to sustain efforts afterwards. This is a long-term humanitarian mission, not a short-term military objective.
Myth 4 – “Mine contamination is only a problem in remote areas.”
Truth: Project Masam has cleared land across family homes, villages, schoolyards, farms, roads, and wells – totalling 68 million square metres. Landmines, IEDs and UXO block access to water, harvests, markets and medical care – anywhere, not just on the frontlines.
For instance, in Abyan’s Wadi Dufs in June 2025, demining teams destroyed 4,620 devices cleared from local water and agricultural areas.
Myth 5 – “Once a minefield is cleared, the area is safe forever.”
Truth: Clearance dramatically reduces risk, but renewed fighting, floods or shifting sands can introduce new contamination. Areas thought to be clear can become dangerous again – especially in conflict zones. In Hays district, Project Masam teams were forced to de‑mine the same land for a third time after Houthis re‑planted explosives post-liberation. Project Masam’s Managing Director, Ousama Algosaibi, highlighted the ongoing threat:
“Currently, Masam teams are clearing certain areas for the third time due to this ongoing threat… their strategy involves densely mining any area they enter”
This underscores the reality that clearance is not a one‑off event: it requires continuous monitoring, resurveying, and community reporting to maintain safety.
Myth 6 – “The number of mine casualties is going down.”
Truth: Sadly, in Yemen, incidents remain alarmingly frequent, particularly among children, farmers and displaced families returning to their land. Sadly, civilian casualties are still significant- children especially. Between March – June 2022, over 42 children were killed or injured by remnants of war alone, averaging one incident per day.
In 2022, Save the Children reported 199 child casualties (55% of all child war casualties) – up from 68 in 2018. An April 2024 incident alone killed one and injured three children aged between four and 15 and injured three others in a mountainous area south of the district of At Tuhayta, in the south of Al Hudaydah governorate.
Myth 7 – “Demining is quick and easy with modern technology.”
Truth: Reality is the opposite. Ground conditions in Yemen (mountains, deserts, salt flats and urban rubble) make clearance slow, painstaking and hazardous. In one week in June – July 2025, teams cleared 222,566 square metres and removed nearly 1,500 devices (including anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, UXO, and IEDs).
Yet each square metre demands manual, meticulous work, often under harsh terrain and in hostile conditions where clearance can take hours per square metre. Every safe square metre is earned through hours of meticulous work.
Myth 8 – “People know where the mines are and can avoid them.”
Truth: One of the most dangerous aspects of landmine contamination in Yemen is the near-total lack of maps or reliable records. Unlike conventional military use of mines, where placement is logged for later removal, the vast majority of mines in Yemen have been laid by the Houthis without documentation, often in hidden, improvised, or deliberately deceptive ways.
This leaves communities, humanitarian workers, and even professional demining teams blind to where explosive threats might lie. According to Project Masam and international observers, landmines are frequently planted in civilian areas such as farms, roads, water sources, and even inside homes, with no warning or marking. Their locations are often forgotten or deliberately concealed – especially by non-state actors like the Houthis, who reportedly plant devices in irregular patterns to maximise harm.
As Algosaibi has stated:
“There are no maps, no patterns… we’re working blind. What makes it worse is that mines are often moved by erosion, livestock, or rainfall – so yesterday’s ‘safe path’ may be lethal today.”
The absence of mapping not only makes clearance harder: it also makes community awareness unreliable. Residents may think they know which paths are safe, but with devices buried randomly and sometimes disguised, that knowledge can be tragically flawed.
Myth 9 – “Mine action is not a humanitarian priority.”
Truth: Clearing mines is critical for life and livelihood, as humanitarian clearance is central to civilian protection, peace building, and aid delivery in Yemen. Project Masam’s work reopening 68 million metres square of farmland, roads, health facilities, and schools enables humanitarian aid delivery, supports displaced returnees, and fosters economic recovery.
On 11 July 2022, during the 9,088th meeting focused on Yemen, the UAE’s representative to the UN specifically highlighted Project Masam’s achievements during a UN Security Council – and urged prioritising mine clearance alongside other civilian protections – demonstrating Masam’s work as a template for effective, multi-sector humanitarian interventions:
“Such humanitarian efforts help save countless lives at a time when the Houthi militias are ignoring the safety of the population and causing immense destruction throughout the country.”
Myth 10 – “Mine action in Yemen is fully funded and supported.”
Truth: Mine action in Yemen is far from fully funded; quite the opposite. In recent years, international funding has declined significantly, forcing key programmes like the UNDP-supported Emergency Mine Action Programme to scale back operations. As a result, Yemen’s national authority, YEMAC, had to stand down over 60 clearance and survey teams, leaving it able to respond only to high-risk emergencies. Several major international NGOs have also reduced or paused their operations due to lack of funding, leaving critical gaps across contaminated regions.
Amid this contraction, Project Masam stands out as the largest and most sustained mine action operation in Yemen today. With 32 active Yemeni clearance teams and over 504,000 explosive devices destroyed since 2018, it now dwarfs every other operator in terms of scale, coverage, and impact. This has only been possible thanks to consistent and substantial backing from KSRelief, which recently renewed Project Masam’s funding with a $53 million allocation for 2025.
As Algosaibi put it: “Stable, multi-year funding is the difference between emergency spot-clearance and a genuine pathway to recovery.” Without such support, vast areas of Yemen would remain inaccessible and unsafe for civilians. Project Masam’s example shows what is possible when mine action is properly resourced; but to ensure comprehensive demining across the country, more initiatives like Project Masam must be established and sustained.
