Doctors Without Borders announced on Thursday that it was evacuating staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen.
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The hospitals that MSF supports in Saada, Haydan, Razeh, Abs, Yasnim and Hajjah will continue to operate with staff from the Ministry of Health and volunteers.
Pentagon officials, however, insist that the drawdown is unrelated to global concerns about civilian deaths, and that it “does not diminish USA commitment to supporting Saudi-led military operations”.
The MSF is evacuating its obstetricians, pediatricians, surgeons and emergency room specialists from six Saada and Hajjah hospitals in northern Yemen, the global medical aid group tweeted on Thursday. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr vote against any more USA involvement in the war against Yemen, and it is time for the American people to demand that President Obama live up to his Nobel Peace Prize.
The United States has withdrawn from Saudi Arabia a planning team that was coordinating with the coalition air campaign and moved it to Bahrain.
Meanwhile, several reports in western media claimed that rising number of civilian causalities and global criticism was not the actual reason behind the United States withdrawal.
The exact coordinates of medical facilities supported by Doctors Without Borders are shared with the coalition in order to avoid being attacked. The Obama administration this month approved a potential $1.15 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia. “That medical staff, sick and injured people are killed inside a hospital speaks of the cruelty and inhumanity of this war”.
The coalition stepped up air strikes this month after UN-mediated peace talks between the rebels and Yemen’s internationally-backed government were suspended.
Shayef Muhsin Asem, who lived in the house but was out at the time of the attack, told the New York Times that “after the house was bombed, family members rushed in to try to rescue survivors when a second airstrike hit”.
An MSF nurse and emergency room supervisor working in Abs hospital in June 2016. In addition to pulling out of parts of Yemen, the aid group is calling for an independent investigation in order to hold individuals or groups accountable if any wrongdoing is determined.
Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, pro-Hadi forces have since managed to reclaim large swathes of the country’s south – including provisional capital Aden – but have failed to retake Sanaa and other strategic areas.
Saudi Arabia has faced continued criticism from rights groups over civilian casualties. The suggestion that such incidents are war crimes has been raised.
Through the statement, the United Nations chief reminded all parties of the utmost necessity to protect civilians and to respect their obligations under worldwide humanitarian law.
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Dozens of Saudi-led air strikes and shells launched by the Houthis have hit civilians in Yemen since the coalition began military operations in March 2015 to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
