The bombing of the MSF hospital is the latest to strike civilians in the Saudi-led seventh-month air mission against the Houthis, who have seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
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A small medical facility run by Doctors Without Borders in the northern Yemeni province of Saada was destroyed by two airstrikes but there were no casualties, the aid group’s chief in Yemen said Tuesday.
“Our hospital in the Heedan district of Saada governorate was hit several times. They just had time to run off as another missile hit the maternity ward”, MSF country director Hassan Boucenine told Reuters. Anyone responsible for committing a war crime should be fairly prosecuted. To target a hospital. “The MSF facility in Saada, (north) Yemen was hit by several air strikes last night with patients and staff inside the facility”, the group said on Twitter.
“There must be an independent investigation into why hospitals and their patients are being targeted, rather than protected, as global humanitarian law requires”, said Luther. More than 2,100 civilians have been killed since the coalition airstrikes begun in March.
It is the second-such attack on an worldwide aid facility to occur this month, after MSF’s trauma hospital was obliterated in a USA air strike in Kunduz province, Afghanistan.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition launched airstrikes in March in a bid to restore Yemen’s exiled government and expel Iran-linked Houthis rebels from power.
Air strikes also hit military bases and Houthi combat positions in Taiz, Sanaa and the Western Red Sea port of Hodaida, residents said.
A coalition naval blockade has prevented vessels from bringing fuel supplies to Yemen, with drastic effects on hospitals in particular, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said. The U.S.is supporting the airstrike campaign with intelligence. American defense officials will not say if they are investigating any civilian death reports in Yemen, and refer reporters to the Saudi government.
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As many as 800 Colombian nationals could soon be fighting in Yemen, with dozens likely already in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation. More than 5,600 people have died in the conflict, and worldwide mediation attempts have mostly failed to stem the violence.
