The Saudi Arabian government's "Saudi Project to Demine Yemen" (Masam) announced on 22 January (local time) that the group dismantled or removed 1,045 landmines in the civil war-torn Yemen during the third week of January.
According to Xinhua News Agency, citing Saudi domestic media, the group said at a press conference that 15 anti-personnel mines, 131 anti-tank mines and 896 unexploded shells have been fired so far. It said three other homebrewed explosive devices were found and removed in the civil war-torn provinces of D'Alea, Shabwa, Hodeida and Tides.
The Saudi government, which launched in Yemen in 2018, has removed a total of 383,193 Houthi rebel mines and explosives.
Despite these constant removals, landmines and homemade explosive devices planted by the Houthi rebels continue to pose a major threat to Yemeni civilians.
According to Yemen's pro-government demining experts, more than 1 million landmines have been planted in the region since late 2014, when rebels drove out Yemeni government forces from several northern provinces and captured the capital, Sanaa. [Newsis]