Since mid-2019, Houthi mines have killed 372 people

Tens of thousands of land mines buried across Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthis have killed 372 people and injured 754 more, according to the Yemeni Landmine Monitor.

A police officer, Mohammed Aklan, was killed last week after walking on an unexploded bomb outside his home on the borders of the western city of Hodeidah, according to the group.

Also this week, a civilian was murdered in a mine detonation while collecting plastic bottles in Hodeidah’s eastern region.

Undiscovered land mines abound in Yemen’s Hodeidah area. Throughout 2017 and 2018, the Houthis laid hundreds of explosives in the area to hinder a military push by government soldiers.

The fresh figures on land mine casualties in Yemen come as activists, diplomats, ministries, and members of the public in Yemen began an online campaign to raise attention to the Houthis’ use of land mines, asking that the militia gives over maps showing where the devices are located.

Yemenis claim that the Houthis have hidden mines on highways, surrounding hospitals, schools, and farms, as well as additional naval mines in the Red Sea, urging the international community, particularly international mediators, to require the militia to hand up maps during the UN-brokered truce.

“The colossal number of land mines planted by Houthis in Yemen has been unconscionable and will take years to discover and dismantle. To help deter more innocent people and wildlife from being murdered or maimed, Houthis should immediately #HandInTheMaps so they can be detected,” the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, D.C. tweeted.

Yemen’s information minister, Muammar Al-Eryani, stated that the militia’s massive use of land mines has made Yemen the most mine-saturated country in the world since WWII, emphasizing that displaced people are unable to return to their homes and fields in freed areas owing to the presence of mines.

“The international community, UN, and the UN envoy are required to pressure the Houthi militia to stop manufacturing and planting mines of all kinds, provide maps of minefields, support government demining programs, rehabilitate the injured and reintegrate them into society,” Al-Eryani tweeted.

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Al-Kumaim, a Yemeni military analyst, told the media that it is unlikely the Houthis will respond positively to the campaign and will continue their mine program. “When tens of land mines are removed from a location during the day, the Houthis sneak into the same place to plant them again. Those maps should be taken from the Houthis by force,” he said.

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