Mine Action Center Reveals Victims, Losses of Cluster Bombs, Dropped by US-Saudi Aggression

The director of the Executive Center for Mine Action, Brigadier Ali Safra, explained, Wednesday, that the total number of cluster submunitions, dropped in the governorates in Yemen by the countries of aggression over a period of seven years, is 2,827,301.

Safra indicated that the Executive Center monitored and recorded nearly 3,921 victims of cluster bombs until March 2022, including 1037 killed and about 2884 injured.

He pointed out that the Executive Center for Mine Action, with its simple capabilities and limited, has lifted and removed about 60,656 thousand small sub-munitions.

He explained that cluster bombs pose a threat to the lives of civilians and represent a major humanitarian problem, and Yemenis are exposed to daily killing as a result of the use of these bombs.

He stressed that the US-Saudi aggression used the ugliest internationally prohibited weapons, including cluster bombs, bombs and aviation missiles with a wide-ranging impact and negative effects on health and the environment.

He noted that humanitarian organizations did not move a finger about what is happening in Yemen of crimes and violations and remained idly by, and this encouraged the US-Saudi aggression to continue to use internationally prohibited weapons.

He urged the international community to stand to support the victims of mines and cluster bombs, to hold the perpetrators accountable and to put an immediate end to seven years of impunity and horrific violations of international law.

Safra explained that the countries of the coalition of aggression prevented the entry of detection devices and personal protective equipment for the center’s field teams.

He indicated that despite the difficulties and obstacles, the Executive Center for Dealing with Mines succeeded at various humanitarian and development levels.

He stressed that the National Mine Action Center had a pivotal and essential role in clearing and liquidating many contaminated lands, securing civilian lives and reducing losses.

The Executive Center records on a daily basis the casualties, due to the large contamination of cluster bombs, and the failure to provide the requirements for marking areas contaminated with cluster bombs, and the remnants of war.

The US-Saudi aggression continues to target neighborhoods and populated areas and destroy the infrastructure of the country, in light of a suspicious international silence.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

The victims of cluster bombs have reached more than 25,000 civilians since the beginning of the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen in 2015. The Director of the Executive Center for Mine Action, Brigadier General Ali Safra, pointed out on Saturday that the support and resources allocated to field clearance do not reach the level of 2% of what is required to be cleaned.

The director of the Executive Center for Mine Action Brigadier Ali Safra stated that Hodeidah, Al-Baidha’a, Marib, Al-Jawf, Nihm and Sa’ada are the most infested areas for mines and bombs, in which the aggression used the most deadly and latest military technology in our country.

He explained that the Center is continuing to work to clear areas contaminated and affected by the bombs and mines of the US-Saudi aggression, pointing out that mines and remnants – especially cluster bombs – have become a national issue and a societal problem that must be disposed.

It is noteworthy that the Executive Center for Mine Action announced the discovery of 544 mines and cluster bombs left over from the aggression during the first week of January 2022.