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Air strikes hit M​​édecins sans Fronti​​ères​ facility in Yemen Airstrikes hit M​​édecins sans Fronti​​ères​ facility in Yemen
(about 1 hour later)
Médecins sans Frontières says a small medical facility it runs in Sa’ada province in northern Yemen has been completely destroyed by two air strikes – the latest bombing of a civilian target in the seven-month, Saudi-led air campaign in the country. A Yemeni hospital run by Médecins sans Frontières has been hit by a Saudi-led airstrike, the latest bombing of a civilian target in the seven-month air campaign in the country.
Hassan Boucenine, the MSF chief in Yemen, told the Associated Press that the first strike hit a building housing the facility’s administration offices. No one was inside the building at the time. The second strike targeted the main building about 10 minutes later, by which time everyone inside – a total of about 12 staff and patients – had been evacuated. “MSF facility in Saada Yemen was hit by several airstrikes last night with patients and staff inside the facility,” MSF said in a tweet.
Our facility in #Saada #Yemen was hit by several airstrikes last night with patients & staff inside the facility. According to Saba, Yemen’s state news agency run by the Iran-allied Houthi group, which is the Saudi coalition’s enemy, the hospital director, Dr Ali Mughli, said several people had been injured in the attack.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries intervened in the civil war in Yemen in March, but seven months of air attacks to restore the Saudi-based Yemeni government to power have yet to loosen the Houthis’ grip over the capital, Sana’a. Mughli said: “The air raids resulted in the destruction of the entire hospital with all that was inside – devices and medical supplies – and the moderate wounding of several people.”
.@MSF facility in #Saada #Yemen was hit by several airstrikes last night with patients & staff inside the facility. pic.twitter.com/MicfUT571V
Saba said other airstrikes had hit a nearby girls’ school and damaged several homes. It was not immediately possible to confirm that report.
The civil war in Yemen has so far killed approximately 5,600 people, according to the World Health Organisation. The coalition is fighting the Houthis to drive them from Sana’a and other areas they captured last year, and to restore the internationally recognised president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Yemen, with a population of 23 million people, was the poorest country in the Arab world long before the removal of its veteran president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, after popular protests in 2011. Now it is experiencing what Oxfam calls the world’s largest “forgotten emergency”.
View from the roof of .@MSF hospital in #Saada, #Yemen that was hit by multiple airstrikes last night. pic.twitter.com/a7Hpf14VJMView from the roof of .@MSF hospital in #Saada, #Yemen that was hit by multiple airstrikes last night. pic.twitter.com/a7Hpf14VJM
It is the second time this month that an MSF facility has been hit in a war zone. Its hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz was bombed by US forces on 3 October, killing about 30 people. Human rights groups have expressed concern at the mounting deaths caused by the aerial bombing and ground fighting in the country but shuttle diplomacy by a UN envoy has yet to achieve a political solution or slow the pace of combat.
Human rights groups have expressed concern at the mounting deaths caused by the aerial bombing and ground fighting. The crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, previously pledged that the nine-member coalition, which includes the UAE, would “stand together until Yemen regains its Arab identity and is liberated from aggressors”.
Amnesty International has recommended an arms embargo on coalition states, citing repeated bombing of Yemeni civilians. Related: Kunduz hospital attack: how a US military ‘mistake’ left 22 dead
In a separate bombing on Monday, residents reported that a coalition air strike killed Haradh hospital director Yasser Wathab and two people he was travelling with in a car in the north-west province of Hajja. They said the group were en route to treat patients killed by an earlier air strike. The Saudis are supported by their allies, the US and Britain, which provide military equipment and intelligence support. But there is said to be growing disquiet in both the UK Foreign Office and US State Department about Riyadh’s strategy and civilian casualties.
The Saudi civil defence ministry said on its Twitter account that several shells fired from Houthi-held north Yemen over the border into the Saudi city of Najran killed two foreign residents and wounding a Saudi citizen. Aid agencies say a key issue was the Saudi blockade of all major ports and airports, which means food imports struggle to get through. Some 13 million Yemenis are already defined as “food insecure” and 21 million are in need of assistance.
More than 5,600 people have died in the conflict and shuttle diplomacy by a UN envoy has yet to achieve a political solution or slow the pace of combat. This is the second time this month that an MSF facility has been hit in a war zone. Its hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz was bombed by US forces on 3 October, killing at least 22 people.