Dina Mahmoud (Aden, London)

The Houthi terrorist militia is not content with destroying Yemen’s present, but the consequences of their aggression, which has lasted about 8 years, extend to its future, which threatens to become one of the most affected countries in the world. Due to the scarcity of drinking water, the proportion of Yemeni citizens is less than 7.5% of the recognized world average, which is known as the “water poverty line”.
Although experts believe that the threshold for suffering this line is that an individual does not receive more than 1,000 cubic meters of drinking water per year, Yemen’s quota does not exceed 74 cubic meters per year, which is also significantly less than the so-called Los Specialists call this the “water shortage line”, which means that the annual amount of drinking water is 500 cubic meters.
Although Yemen was listed years ago as one of the countries most threatened by drinking water in recent decades, the continued aggression by the Houthis on its lands since late 2014 threatens to accelerate this catastrophic scenario. Given the huge damage done to the environment, water and food sources by coup gang attacks, rocket attacks and land mines.
This type of mine is one of the most dangerous weapons of the Houthis and devastates Yemen’s environment, as coup plotters have planted them in nearly 18 of the country’s 23 provinces.
Furthermore, this criminal gang applies this method with such intensity that independent experts have had difficulty counting the mines the Houthis have placed on the front lines or near the front lines or around areas under their control.
In statements posted on the Ink Stick Media website, officials from organizations responsible for mine clearance in some areas of Yemen said widely publicized estimates put the number at no less than 800,000 mines, a serious violation of international law. The use of anti-personnel mines, the most common form of land mine used by the Houthis, is prohibited.
The placement of many of these mines on farmland and around water sources prevented Yemeni farmers from accessing their land as well as essential water sources.
This problem was compounded by the recent floods that affected some Yemeni provinces and caused landmines to be swept away, making them more dangerous after their location became unknown, even to the Houthi militias.
In a report published by the website, experts warned that Houthi landmines in rural Yemen and around water supply networks are preventing these lands from receiving the maintenance or irrigation they need, leaving long-term damage. Impacts until these lands are cleared of landmines that will take decades to clear Yemen.
At the same time, the chaos unleashed by the Houthi coup against the legitimate government in Sanaa weakened government control in many cities, towns and villages, prompting farmers to dig wells at an ever-increasing rate, which caused overflows. extraction of groundwater and eventually caused its reserves to dwindle and many wells to dry up.
The collapse of sewage networks as a result of aggressive Houthi attacks has also polluted groundwater reserves, meaning attacks by coup militias, along with natural factors such as climate change and others, have led to rapid depletion of water supplies. in Yemen

Subversion of land and wells
The coup plotters are directly responsible for the destruction of large tracts of agricultural land and water resources in the affected provinces under their control. Ink Stick Media quoted farmers in these areas as saying that the Houthi gang directly attacked the water wells on their land and seized a large part of it, either to profit from it or to use it for sabotage purposes.
The report notes that the immediate damage done by the Houthi attacks to Yemen’s environment, represented by the destruction of land and wells, does not compare to the long-term destruction of the country’s ecosystem, such as the disruption of irrigation systems. The land, over time, becomes barren, dry and unsuitable for agriculture, as do the lingering harmful effects of explosive munitions on air, soil and water sources.