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RIYADH: Members of ��������Ƶ’s Project Masam removed 3,174 explosive devices from various regions of Yemen last week.

The total included three anti-personnel mines, seven anti-tank mines and 3,164 unexploded ordnances, according to a recent report.

Ousama Al-Gosaibi, the initiative’s managing director, said a total of 476,432 mines had been cleared since its inception in 2018.

The explosives were planted indiscriminately and posed a threat to civilians, including children, women and the elderly.

The demining operations took place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Saada.

The initiative trains local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. It also offers support to Yemenis injured by the devices.

Teams are tasked with clearing villages, roads and schools to facilitate safe movement for civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

About 5 million people have been forced to flee their homes since the start of the conflict in Yemen, many of them displaced by the presence of land mines.

RIYADH: The Riyadh Art program has announced the participating artists for the Tuwaiq International Sculpture Symposium, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The event, scheduled to take place at ROSHN Waterfront, will run from Jan. 15 to Feb. 8, 2025, under the theme “From Then to Now.”

Using stone sourced from the Tuwaiq area, the completed pieces will be displayed around the city from Feb. 12 to 24 as part of the Kingdom’s national public art initiative.

A flagship project of Riyadh Art, launched on March 19, 2019, the Tuwaiq International Sculpture Symposium seeks to foster artistic and cultural exchange through community partnerships, workshops, panel discussions and other activities.

It also aims to integrate artistic practices into Riyadh’s cultural landscape, according to the SPA.

The registration period for the symposium’s sixth edition drew significant global interest, with more than 750 applications submitted from 80 countries.

An independent committee of art and sculpture experts evaluated the submissions, ultimately selecting 30 artists from 23 countries to create public art sculptures using locally sourced stone, further enriching Riyadh’s cultural fabric.

The 2025 symposium will be curated by architect and artist Sebastian Betancur-Montoya and sculpture specialist Manal Al-Harbi.

Betancur-Montoya said: “We celebrate the constant challenges faced by artists this year. These challenges are a major source of inspiration, allowing everyone to create a legacy that bridges the past, present, and future in innovative and humane ways.”

The symposium has had more than 120 local and international artists participate over the past five years. It mirrors Riyadh Art’s public initiative that works to enhance the city’s cultural landscape through art, and which has now housed more than 1,000 public art pieces in neighborhoods, parks and other spaces.