An international organization specialized in clearing mines and explosives has warned of the escalation of risks threatening the lives of civilians in Yemen as a result of explosive devices and mines that the Houthi group hides with camouflage methods that make them appear as daily objects, including rocks, pieces of bricks, and containers for storing drinking water, stressing that Taiz Governorate recorded about two-thirds of the documented incidents of planting mines and explosives.
The "Halo Trust" organization said, in a statement, that explosive devices buried under the soil, placed inside bags on the sides of the roads, or camouflaged as familiar objects, have become an increasing threat to civilians, especially with the escalation of military confrontations and the change of battle lines, and the accompanying large waves of displacement from areas of clashes.
The organization explained that the recent military escalation by the Houthis led to the displacement of large numbers of residents, at a time when media reports and available data indicate the start of new mine-laying operations, in addition to the spread of unexploded ordnance along vital transportation routes and humanitarian access corridors.
Andrew Moore, the organization's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that changing front lines and civilians being forced to leave their homes towards areas whose terrain and roads they do not know make them more vulnerable to explosions caused by hidden explosives.
Moore stressed the importance of keeping surveying and mine clearance operations abreast of field developments, warning that delaying dealing with these risks doubles the chances of civilian casualties fleeing the fighting.
Taiz is in the lead
According to data provided by the organization, about two-thirds of recorded mine-laying incidents are concentrated in Taiz Governorate, which is witnessing continuous confrontations on its fronts, in conjunction with the siege imposed on its capital and restrictions on the movement of people and supplies.
Reports indicated that anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines were found on vital roads used by residents in the Jabal Habashi District, in addition to reports of various explosive devices and camouflaged ones in the Al-Turbah area, threatening the safety of civilians who depend on these roads to move around and flee areas of confrontation.
These risks gain additional importance with the expansion of the displacement movement in the governorate, which hosts large numbers of families fleeing the fighting, while clashes and the blocking of main roads have obstructed the access of food and medical services, in addition to damaging water facilities and vital infrastructure.
According to the United Nations, more than 300,000 Yemenis have been forced to leave their homes since last August, and more than half of them reside in Taiz Governorate, large areas of which are located on the front lines. The displaced face additional risks as they move through roads and corridors that may be littered with mines or contaminated with remnants of war.
Concerns are not limited to Taiz, as displacement rates are increasing in southern and western Yemen, where the number of people fleeing the fighting has exceeded 42,000 people, according to data reported by the organization.
Reports of the planting of landmines along coastal transport corridors in the Bab al-Mandab region and the western coast have raised fears of an expanding scope of the threat, especially since these roads represent vital routes for the movement of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
These risks overlap with the migration movement coming from the Horn of Africa. More than 134,000 people arrived in Yemen during September 2026, according to the statement, and many of them were seeking to reach the Gulf countries, which exposes additional numbers of people to the dangers of explosives when taking unfamiliar routes.
These developments come in a country facing one of the largest humanitarian crises, as the United Nations Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for 2026 estimates that 22.3 million people need humanitarian assistance, including 18.3 million who suffer from severe food insecurity, while more than 2.2 million children under five years old face acute malnutrition, including more than 516,000 children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
Mine clearance
In the context of its efforts, Halo Trust said that it has been working for more than three decades to remove mines and explosives and help communities affected by conflicts restore their lives, noting that the end of battles does not mean the disappearance of the dangers of war, as lands contaminated with explosives remain an obstacle to the return of residents and the practice of their daily activities.
She added that the presence of mines deprives families of cultivating their lands and grazing their livestock, and makes basic activities, such as going to school and fetching water, risky, stressing that restoring safety in the affected areas is a prerequisite for the return of normal life.
The organization explained that it relies on recruiting and training men and women from local communities to participate in mine clearance operations, providing them with an income that helps them rebuild their lives, by buying livestock, growing crops, and launching small projects.
The organization warns that the continued planting of mines and the spread of unexploded ordnance, in conjunction with waves of displacement and changing front lines, expands the circle of danger to civilians, and makes the roads they take in search of safety a new source of threat.
The Houthi group turned the markets and commercial establishments in the kidnapped Yemeni capital, Sanaa, into new outlets to finance its military activities, through a collection and coercion campaign targeting hundreds of companies, institutions, stores, restaurants, and commercial centers, by forcing their owners to place donation boxes inside their facilities, and extracting money from merchants and citizens under the banner of supporting the “war effort” and the families of those killed, wounded, and missing on the front lines, according to local and commercial sources.
The campaign, which was launched at the beginning of the week, reveals Houthi efforts to expand sources of forced financing and compensate for human and military losses, by burdening the private sector and the population with the burdens of the continuation of the war, at a time when the living crisis is worsening and the ability of commercial institutions to continue their activities is declining.
The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the group's members and supervisors targeted commercial establishments in a number of Sana'a districts, and forced their owners, under pressure and threat, to receive funds designated for collecting funds, in conjunction with field movements to urge merchants and customers to deposit sums of money in them.
She added that the group obligated its members to visit stores and establishments daily to collect the money deposited in the funds, before transferring it to the bank accounts of its senior leaders, according to the sources, who indicated that the campaign is not limited to collecting donations, but rather includes imposing financial obligations and exerting direct pressure on the owners of commercial activities.
320 boxes in two days
In an indication of the expansion of the campaign, the Houthi group distributed more than 320 donation boxes to private sector institutions in a number of districts during the first two days, indicating that it intends to distribute about 4,000 additional boxes in the coming days, to include the rest of the capital’s regions and its suburbs.
This coincided with merchants' complaints about supervisors and Houthi elements storming their stores carrying donation boxes, and forcing them at gunpoint to place them inside their stores, without asking permission or obtaining their approval.
Merchants said that the group did not limit itself to imposing the boxes, but rather obligated the owners and workers of establishments to invite customers to donate, warning of taking strict measures against stores whose boxes are opened and appear empty of money, in an effort to turn merchants into tools for collecting levies from citizens.
“Ramzi,” a pseudonym for a store owner in a neighborhood in Sanaa, says that Houthi supervisors forced him to place a box inside his store under the pretext of supporting the fronts and families of the group’s dead and wounded. He explained that its members pass by repeatedly to collect money, without him having the right to object or reject the presence of the box.
He adds that the supervisors' threats and constant monitoring sometimes push him to put sums of money from his own money into the fund, to avoid being held responsible for customers' reluctance to donate or subjecting him to punitive measures, as the fund's absence of funds has become sufficient reason for accountability and pressure on him.
On the outskirts of Sanaa, a restaurant owner, who requested that his name not be published, complains that the campaign has turned into an additional means to blackmail establishment owners, saying that Houthi supervisors are not satisfied with imposing funds, but rather are putting pressure on restaurant owners and workers to pay additional amounts, despite the decline in sales and the rise in operating costs.
As for Saeed, a resident of Sanaa, he believes that the group is seeking to transform the remaining markets and stores into permanent outlets to collect money from citizens, noting that residents have become besieged by successive donation and collection campaigns, at a time when many are unable to provide the basic needs of their families.
