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Project Masam Announces Clearing of 1,045 Mines in Yemen

Project Masam, a humanitarian landmine clearance project launched by Saudi Arabia in 2018, announced on Sunday that it cleared 1,045 mines in Yemen in the third week of January. This included 15 anti-personnel mines, 131 anti-tank mines, 896 unexploded ordnance, and three other explosive devices in the provinces of Dhalea, Shabwa, Hodeidah, and Taiz. A total of 383,193 mines laid by Houthi forces have been cleared since the project was launched. More than 1 million landmines have been laid since the outbreak of the civil war in late 2014, when the Houthi militia took control of several northern provinces and forced the Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa, according to pro-government demining experts in Yemen. Project Masam is implemented by the UN Development Program and funded by a number of international donors, including the EU, UK, US, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.