The demining Masam Project in Yemen announced that it removed more than four thousand mines, unexploded shells, and explosive devices in January 2024. The Masam Project Media Center said in a report a total of 4,245 mines, unexploded shells, and explosive devices were removed during January. The report indicated that the field teams removed 3,625 unexploded ordnance and 580 anti-tank mines. The total area cleared during the same month reached 1,214,905 square meters of Yemeni territory. According to the report, the total number of mines that have been cleared since the launch of the Masam project in June 2018 is 431,054 mines, unexploded ordnance, and explosive devices.
Yemen’s Houthis fired missiles at two vessels in the Red Sea, they said on Tuesday, causing minor damage to a cargo ship that was sailing off the coast of Yemen’s Al-Hudaydah. The group’s military spokesman said it fired naval missiles at the Morning Tide and Star Nasia, identifying the Barbados- and Marshall Islands-flagged ships, respectively, as British and American. British maritime security firm Ambrey said a Barbados-flagged, general cargo ship owned by a British company suffered damage from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) while sailing southeast through the Red Sea. Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea off Yemen since November.
The US military said early on Tuesday it had conducted a strike against “explosive uncrewed surface vehicles” belonging to the Houthis in Yemen on Monday afternoon. The statement by the US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said the vehicles “presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” and the action, carried out at approximately 3:30 p.m. local time, was in self-defense. The US and its allies have been conducting strikes against the Houthis who have declared a blockade of maritime traffic that supports Israel’s war on Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Qatar on Tuesday on his latest Middle East crisis tour, seeking a new ceasefire and “an enduring end” to the Israel-Hamas war. The US top envoy was later bound for Israel, hoping to shore up support for a truce deal that was hashed out in Paris in January but has not yet been signed off on by either Hamas or Israel. Heavy strikes and fighting in Gaza killed at least 107 people in 24 hours, said the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory that has been under almost four months of bombardment. Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 27,585 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.
