Ousama Algosaibi, Managing Director of the Masam Landmine Clearance Project in Yemen, has announced that the successful removal of 500,000 landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and other explosive devices represents a major achievement\u2014not only for Saudi Arabia, but also on a global humanitarian scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis milestone was not easily achieved,\u201d Algosaibi stated during an appearance on the Ain Al-Khamisa<\/em> programme on Saudi Arabia\u2019s Al-Ekhbariya channel. \u201cIt came at great cost. We lost members of our own team. The work was extremely difficult, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but with God’s grace, we overcame those challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Algosaibi explained that the clearance efforts have led to a noticeable drop in mine-related casualties in the areas where Project Masam operates. He noted that many displaced families and farmers have been able to safely return to their villages and resume cultivating their land – a clear evidence of the project’s humanitarian impact, he claimed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe work only in areas far from active front lines,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd while removing half a million devices is significant, it’s still small compared to the vast contamination that remains in conflict zones.\u201d<\/p>\n Since its launch in mid-2018, Masam has removed between 30,000 and 40,000 landmines annually, in addition to over 330,000 unexploded ordnance (UXO) items. These explosives were found in liberated civilian areas, including homes, farms, schools, and roads, far from direct combat zones.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a major accomplishment,\u201d Algosaibi said. \u201cOne of the keys to our success has been the strong cooperation from local communities. Masam has become a symbol of hope, allowing many to safely return to their homes, farms, and hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n He highlighted several regions with severe contamination, particularly Taiz, where around 50,000 mines have been cleared. Other heavily affected areas include Hudaydah, Al-Jawf, and Shabwah.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Shabwah, we cleared tens of thousands of mines across two phases. After nearly declaring Bayhan and Usaylan mine-free in 2018, Houthi forces re-entered and re-mined the areas. When we returned, the number of devices we removed in just three months exceeded what we had cleared there in the previous three years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Algosaibi also addressed the evolving and dangerous tactics used by Houthi forces, noting their extensive use of homemade mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). “Between 80% to 85% of the mines we remove are improvised. Some are disguised in everyday objects or connected to pressure plates and electric triggers. Many are specifically designed to target demining personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n He stressed the importance of strict safety protocols followed by Project Masam demining teams, ensuring both the effectiveness of operations and the protection of staff.<\/p>\n One of the most critical challenges, Algosaibi emphasised, is the absence of minefield maps. \u201cDespite signing the Stockholm Agreement, the Houthis have not provided any maps or coordinates of the minefields they planted, making our work even more dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n He concluded by underscoring the inherent risks of mine clearance: \u201cAnyone in this field knows that each day could be their last, or the day they come home with a life-altering injury. That\u2019s the nature of this work.\u201d<\/p>\n Project Masam relies heavily on its survey teams and the cooperation of local communities to locate and clear mines. \u201cWe conduct extensive searches and have rapid-response teams ready to intervene in emergencies. Every operation is carefully planned to prioritise the safety of our personnel,\u201d Algosaibi said.<\/p>\n Since mid-2018, the project’s deminers\u00a0have cleared 67,585,167 square metres of land, making these areas safe once again for civilian use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ousama Algosaibi, Managing Director of the Masam Landmine Clearance Project in Yemen, has announced that the successful removal of 500,000 landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and other explosive devices represents a major achievement\u2014not only for Saudi Arabia, but also on a global humanitarian scale. \u201cThis milestone was not easily achieved,\u201d Algosaibi stated during an appearance on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[312,205,1091,151,292,308,342,331,149,201,103,284,97,165,118,352,154,234,99,124,387,98,110,283,1053,1090,102,275,116,101,252,109,249,111,108,759],"class_list":["post-22057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-landminesban","tag-yemencantwait","tag-ain-al-khamisa","tag-anti-personnel-landmines","tag-anti-personnel-landmines-yemen","tag-anti-tank-landmines","tag-deminers","tag-demining","tag-houthi-landmines","tag-houthi-militias","tag-houthis","tag-houthis-yemen","tag-humanitarian","tag-humanitarian-mine-action","tag-ieds","tag-landmine-clearance","tag-landmine-survivors","tag-landmine-victims","tag-landmines","tag-landmines-in-yemen","tag-landmines-yemen","tag-mine-action","tag-mine-clearance","tag-ousama-algosaibi","tag-ousama-alsogaibi-project-masam","tag-ousama-alsogaibi-yemen","tag-project-masam","tag-project-masam-yemen","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-yemen","tag-yemen-conflict","tag-yemen-crisis","tag-yemen-landmines","tag-yemen-news","tag-yemen-war","tag-yemenis","category-18","description-off"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22060,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22057\/revisions\/22060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectmasam.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}