Yemeni child mine blast victim awaits surgery in Saudi Arabia

A 13-year-old Yemeni boy has been taken to Saudi Arabia after he was seriously injured by a mine planted by Houthis in Yemen, earlier last month.

The boy, Aladeen Al-Shami was initially treated in a Yemen hospital. But he and his 25-year-old brother - Jabir Al-Shami - then traveled to Saudi Arabia where he received further treatment for his injuries to his mouth and jaw, that were caused by the shrapnel from the blast.

Jabir told Al Arabiya News in a phone interview: “My brother can’t talk - all his teeth and tongue were badly damaged by the blast… Even though he has had the surgery, he can only breathe and eat through a pipe.”

He received treatment in King Fahad Central Hospital in the city of Jazan, close to the Yemeni border. He was then taken to an immigration office, to be granted residency in Saudi Arabia like tens of thousands of Yemenis before him.

But he still needs more operations to his upper and lower jaw.

“Doctors said they didn’t have the facilities or resources to do the rest of the surgery, and told us that we need to go to Riyadh” Jabir said.

Now the brothers are waiting in Jazan for a reply from the authorities allowing them to go to Riyadh, where the teen hopes to have the final operation in King Saud Medical City.

“We sent a video showing my brother’s condition, giving a detailed description,” Jabir said. “But we are still waiting for an answer, and we have been told that we could be waiting for up to eight or nine months.”