RIYADH: The normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran has so far failed to improve the behavior of the Houthi militia with regard to its use of landmines in Yemen. He said.

He says he is optimistic about the Saudi-Iranian deal, but so far there has been little impact from the agreement on removing land mines in Yemen.

I appreciate that Iran and Saudi Arabia reached this agreement. “I think in the long run it should help the whole region and it should reshape some of the relationships that exist in this field,” Algosaibi told Katie Jensen on the latest episode of Arab News’ “Speaking Frankly.”

How does this affect mine action in Yemen? I don’t think we’ve seen any improvement in the landmine issue in Yemen yet.”

It has been eight years since the Iran-backed Houthis overthrew the internationally recognized government in Yemen, unleashing a war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The country is riddled with landmines as a result of the conflict.

Often referred to as perfect soldiers—they never need to eat, sleep, or ever leave their place—landmines can remain in the ground for years even after hostilities have ended, posing a constant threat to civilians, particularly children, unless they are hard-earned. to survey.

When Saudi Arabia and Iran signed the historic normalization agreement, brokered by China, on March 10 this year, there were hopes that the Houthis, long supported and funded by Tehran, would cooperate with the demining efforts.

But despite the Houthis being a signatory to the Stockholm Agreement, which requires them to hand over details of the explosives that were planted and detailed maps outlining their whereabouts, progress has not been made.

“This has not happened yet,” Algosaibi said. “In terms of our work, I haven’t seen any improvements.”

For Masam, the battle against landmines has been uphill. Frontline movement over the course of the conflict means that areas previously liberated by the Yemeni government and vacated by the Gosaibi divisions have been retaken by Houthi forces and re-mined.

“We have cleared over 400,000 items. This includes anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. This includes a large number of unexploded ordnance, unexploded ordnance and an even greater number of improvised explosive devices.”

When you talk about Project Masam, (we) have so far removed more than 7,800 explosive devices such as rock mines in Yemen. This number was not found anywhere else in the world. This number is mind-boggling. This has never happened anywhere else in the world.”

According to some estimates, Yemen is riddled with more landmines than were used during World War II. In response to a question about the number of landmines laid in Yemen, Algosaibi could only provide a ballpark figure, such as the scarcity of data provided by the Houthis.

“I would say between 1 million and 2 million mines. These are newly laid mines. I don’t take into account the mines that were in Yemen before the Houthi problem.”

The 1997 Ottawa Treaty, often referred to as the Mine Ban Treaty, is about antipersonnel mines, but it does not refer to antitank mines. Al-Gosaibi says that the Houthis have exploited this gray area to build improvised explosive devices using anti-tank mines.

Instead of having an anti-tank (mine) exploding with a weight of more than 120 or more than 150 kilograms, they reduced it to less than 10 kilograms. If a child passes over these pressure plates, you won’t find anything left of it. So, you can imagine what would happen to a person if an anti-tank mine exploded next to him.

But the problem, so far, is that these improvised mines, improvised explosive devices, are not within the terminology of the international community. They didn’t find terms, but they didn’t come up with any rules or regulations that you’re talking about.”

Algosaibi estimates that the number of people maimed and killed by landmines in Yemen over the course of the conflict has reached thousands. Because there are many mine action groups operating in different parts of Yemen, there is no single database on casualties.

“There is always a stigma associated with mine accidents in Yemen,” Algosaibi said. “You have women who are divorced because they have lost a limb. A man who has lost the ability to support a family of seven or eight because of a mine accident.

Last week, the United Nations announced that more than half of the incidents involving children in Yemen are directly related to mines. That’s a huge number. Mines affect the education system, the medical system, the water supply and agricultural (grazing) lands.”

And civilians are not the only ones at risk. Many of Gosaibi’s employees were injured or even killed while clearing the remaining landmines and explosives.

Regarding Masam, we lost 30 of our comrades in Yemen, 47 wounded, and 30 dead. Some of them are very close friends that I have worked with for the past 18 years. So yes, we have paid a heavy price in Yemen.”

Despite the efforts of the international community to ban the use of landmines, they are still widely used in conflicts around the world due to their strong psychological impact and low cost of production.

“Planting a mine is cheap. You’re talking tens of dollars,” Algosaibi said. “(The United Nations estimates that when demining, each mine can cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000 to clear.)

Therefore, there was no comparison to the cost of actually cultivating and purifying it. Today, the Houthis use homemade mines. They do not import mines. They (received) help setting up their own factories.”

The UN has attempted a balanced approach to funding landmine clearance operations, not only in areas controlled by the internationally recognized government in Aden, but also within the Houthi administration in Sanaa.

Algosaibi believes that this approach is a waste of time and money, since demining work in Houthi-controlled areas lacks transparency and accountability.

He said, “I don’t believe in holding the stick from the middle.” “I don’t see the point of supporting the mine action program in Sana’a when we know that the Houthis are behind planting and manufacturing all these mines and IEDs in Yemen.

The United Nations follows this policy that says: ‘We need to keep the stick in the middle. We need Sanaa’s support. We need the support of Aden and Marib. I think it’s a waste of time and money.

If you want to help the Yemenis, I don’t care who they are and who they belong to, the north, the south, the Houthis, the non-Houthi. I’m talking about if you want to help the locals, there are proper ways to do it.

You can supervise appropriate mine action, demining teams in Houthi-controlled areas, and under your supervision. Just like we do in our regions. We have a very close working relationship with the Yemen Mine Action Programme. And it works.

“You should (see) there. You know, that is if you really want to mine, don’t just pay and talk about it (and say): ‘Oh, we funded this and we funded that.’”

“Where does the money go? I haven’t seen (where). Masam is the only project or entity in Yemen that announces their numbers every Sunday morning. These numbers have been reviewed, corrected and documented, you name it, whatever, by YMAC , by our operations team prior to its deployment each Sunday morning.”

Until the supply of components to the Houthis is halted, Algosaibi believes landmines will continue to proliferate in Yemen. This means that Iran and its proxies in the region must stop arms smuggling.

“We know that the series is coming with funding from Iran, although it is coming from other countries,” Algosaibi said.

The drones in Yemen had German-made engines. Who is going to smuggle German-made engines into Yemen? It cannot be a small organization. It should be a proper government that has a lot of hands around which areas can be smuggled into Yemen.”

Six years have passed since the Saudi Landmine Clearance Project began work in Yemen, and despite remarkable progress, Algosaibi feels there are still many years of work to go before his team can declare “mission accomplished.”

He said, “I can only say that if there is an absolute and proper truce in Yemen and all the fronts are open and we are working there, then you can give an estimate (about the duration). No one knows what is on those fronts at the moment because we are not working on it.” active front.

He hopes the Houthis will provide detailed maps of their minefields to aid in clearance efforts, as failure to do so will only prolong the threat posed by Yemeni civilians and mine-clearing workers.

“It will only delay the problem, increase the number of casualties, and increase the number of (affected) mine action workers over the coming years.

“(Even) if you have the right funding, the right number of teams and the right information… I’d give it another 10 years.”