The spring, the grass, and the greenness of the slope were tempting the 9-year-old Ra'ad Ahmed to run after the sheep, and to play with his cousin (Abdul-Aziz), who is two years older than him. They go out together at the beginning of the day to lead the sheep towards the pasture, to which they have not returned since the day Ra'ad shirt was stained with his blood.
on Saturday 30 March 2019; at 10 am, it was an ordinary routine day except for one step which Ra'ad unconsciously took on a metallic body, carelessly thrown under the mountain grass. When he wanted to find out what it was, it was too late; A lump of flame erupted, and the cliff resounded with a loud explosion that Ra'ad would never forget all his life.
The explosion was caused by the unexploded remnants of a cluster bomb that dispersed in a grassy slope in the Sahar District of Sa'ada Governorate (Northern Yemen). The explosion caused serious injuries to the two children, but Raad, who stepped on the explosive object, was the most wounded of the two children, as a result of the lacerations in his left leg, he was no longer able to move or control it.
Since the incident, Ra'ad has been forced to travel at the beginning of each month, in order to conduct physiotherapy sessions at the “Limb Center” in Sana’a, which is the only center in Yemen dedicated to this type of treatment that Raad’s case requires, hoping that this will activate his dormant nerves and motivate them to respond.
Raad and Ibrahim are only two victims out of hundreds of child victims, who have been subjected to permanent disabilities from the remnants of the war, which has been going on in Yemen for seven years, as a result of the parties to the conflict bombing of populated areas and towns near the areas of confrontation with tens of thousands of mines, explosive devices, cluster bombs and explosive remnants, which It is getting more and more victims.
Dr. Sheikha Al-Hassani, Head of Women and Children in the Physiotherapy Department at the Limb Center, said in a statement to "Khuyut": cases like Ra'ad are usually difficult, and they need surgery outside Yemen to restore the damaged parts of the leg nerve because that is not available in Yemen. Currently, Ra'ad has no choice but to continue physiotherapy sessions, although the probability of their effectiveness is small, it may not exceed 20%, only.
As a result of Ra'ad’s condition and his early disability, he is no longer able to go to school. It is not easy for him now, especially with the fact that he is obliged to periodically conduct physiotherapy sessions in Sana’a. Nevertheless, he still has a lot of optimism in to recover one day and be able to run like children, and walk to school on his feet. “I also hope that what happened to me will not be repeated with another child. I always dream that the land of Yemen is free from the remnants of war,” Ra'ad told “Khuyut.”
The same tragedy is repeated, with the same causes and tools as well, with Adeeb Ibrahim (8 years old); another child from DhuBab district (west of Taiz governorate), Adeeb lives with an early disability resulted by a shrapnel that hit one of his legs as a result of a landmine explosion, making him paralyzed before reaching the age of ten. As for his older sister and father, they died at the same moment of the explosion, while the three of them were grazing their livestock in the vicinity of a field that was booby-trapped with mines.
Ra'ad and Ibrahim are only two victims out of hundreds of child victims, who have been subjected to permanent disabilities from the remnants of the war, which has been going on in Yemen for seven years. The parties to the conflict have bombarding populated areas and towns near the confrontation areas with tens of thousands of mines, explosive devices, cluster bombs and explosive remnants, which are responsible for claiming the lives of more and more victims.
Ali Al-Awaj, Director General of the Limb Center and Physiotherapy in Sanaa, told Khuyut that since 2015, the Limb Center has provided services to more than 68 thousand people, the largest percentage of whom were children, as their number reached 24 thousand children - until mid-2021. Most of them were injured by shrapnel from explosives, or the remnants of cluster bombs.
Statistics from the Executive Center for Mine Action (operating in Houthi-controlled areas) indicate that from 2015 to 2021, coalition warplanes dropped 3179 cluster bombs on separate areas of the Republic of Yemen, mostly concentrated in the governorates of: Saada, Hajjah, and Amanat al-Asimah (Sana'a), Al-Hodeidah, Al-Jawf, Amran, Al-Mahwit, Dhamar, and Taiz.
Ali Safra, the director general of the center, said in a statement to "Khuyut" that until 2021, the center had recovered 55,636 mines, cluster bombs and other remnants of war, detailed as follows: (874 anti-personnel mines, 2,920 anti-tank mines, 1,304 cluster bombs, and 11 Flying missiles in vital areas, 164 fuse bombs, 39 flying bombs, 240 booby traps, and about 50,084 pieces of various missiles and remnants of war).
On the other hand, in areas under the control of the internationally recognized government, the Masam Project has been working to clearing mines and remnants of war since July 2018. Osama Al-Qusaibi, the project’s general manager, told Khuyut: that since the project’s launch until early February 2022, 321,000 mines, ammunition and unexploded ordnance have been removed from areas controlled by government forces.
