MASAM clears thousands of mines planted by Houthis
‘Teams are sparing no effort to restore normalcy in Al Gafina area in Marib’
MARIB: Thousands of mines planted by the Houthi rebels across Yemeni territories are being removed by the teams of the Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance (MASAM), who have recently managed to clear large areas in Marib and Saada of an unprecedented volume of landmines and unexploded weapons that contaminate rural and urban war zones, maiming and killing innocents civilians.
In Yemen, the buried explosives were planted by the coup perpetrators in a random manner as part of a slash-andburn retreat typical of rebel groups.
“Three MASAM teams operating in Al Gafina area in Marib, are sparing no efforts to restore normalcy in the recently liberated area and managed lately to remove scores of mines and unexploded munition in line with internationally accepted standards,” said MASAM Team leader Colonel Abdullah Al Bahari.
MASAM, launched by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (Ksrelief) on June 25 2018, tackles the plague of landmines left behind by Iran-backed Al Houthi militants as they retreat from battlefield losses. Landmines constitute a major impediment to social and economic development efforts and expose citizens to potentially fatal risk for generations to come, MASAM says.
The programme strives to help the Yemeni people to overcome the many tragedies caused by the deployment of these landmines, and to enable the country to become more independent to take responsibility in removing mines themselves.
In Zat Al Ray area, the Masam teams started their work today and managed to clear anti-tank mines, Colonel Al Bahari said, adding that the area is totally mined and there is an estimated 500 mines per field in the zone.
“Mining populated areas is an unprecedented crime in the history of humanity that is being perpetrated by the rebels in Yemen in a way that flies in the face of all relevant international laws and conventions, said Commander of the Fifth Brigade in Saada, Brigadier Saleh naroosh.
“All the liberated areas are replete with mines planted by the rebels and they still pose a threat to the civilians despite the efforts made by the MASAM teams whose top priority is to safeguard the locals,” he added, remarking that there are still camouflaged mines that have been planted randomly in addition to other explosives in remote areas not reached yet by the demining teams.