Yemen Monitor/Newsroom:
The Saudi-led demining project MASAM announced its success in clearing mines from one of Yemen’s most dangerous areas.
In a statement followed by Yemen Monitor, the project stated that Al-Alam area in Osilan district of Shabwa governorate is considered one of the most dangerous areas with Houthi mines due to the nature of the sandy land, which changes due to the wind.
It added: “Therefore, it posed a complex challenge during the clearance process, which required periodic re-scanning to ensure that the area was free of mines and explosives, as well as the presence of mobile phone towers on its mountains, and the reliance of local residents on it for grazing camels and sheep, and the attempt of the Houthi militia to turn the area into a security belt filled with mines, including barrel bombs buried under the moving sands, which further complicated the clearance operations.”
It affirmed that despite these difficulties, the fourteenth team of the MASAM project managed to secure 9 interconnected minefields in Al-Alam area and was able to discover 29 anti-tank mines, 17 various types of improvised explosive devices, 25 electric fuzes for landmines, and 7 anti-personnel mines, all planted in complex and camouflaged ways, where the clearance area reached about 450,000 square meters.
This achievement came despite the great challenges faced by the team in this vital area.
