KSA Targets MSF Hospital in Yemen
Local Editor
A hospital in northern Yemen run by Doctors Without Borders was destroyed by warplanes belonging to a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, even though the coalition had been given the coordinates of the hospital, the relief organization said Tuesday.
The airstrikes, about 10:30 p.m. Monday, forced the evacuation of staff and patients from the site and raised new questions on the international silence against the Saudi crimes.
The coalition, of 10 Arab states, receives military and intelligence support from the United States under the pretext of attacking the Ansarullah revolutionaries. Bombings by the coalition have martyred more than 1,100 people - the majority of civilian casualties during the war, according to human rights advocates. The airstrikes also hit nonmilitary targets, including markets, houses and wedding parties.
The city of Saada, a stronghold of the Houthi rebel forces, has come under intense bombardment by the Saudi-led coalition.
"With the hospital destroyed, at least 200,000 people now have no access to lifesaving medical care," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. Hassan Boucenine, the group's head of mission in Yemen, said in the statement that the attack was "another illustration of a complete disregard for civilians in Yemen, where bombings have become a daily routine."
A spokesman for the coalition did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Boucenine said in an interview that the hospital was hit by several airstrikes while roughly a dozen patients and staff members were inside. The operating theater and maternity ward were struck. The staff evacuated the hospital between strikes, and one staff member was slightly injured in the escape.
The airstrikes then continued for at least two hours, leaving most of the facility in rubble, the group said.
The small hospital, in the Haydan district along the border with Saudi Arabia, was one of the few still operating in the northern province of Saada. The province has been heavily bombed by the coalition for months.
Doctors Without Borders said about 3,400 patients had been treated since the group began supporting the hospital in May.
"The bombing of civilians and hospitals is a violation of international humanitarian law and MSF is demanding that coalition forces explain the circumstances around the attack," the statement said, using the abbreviation for the group's French name, Médecins Sans Frontières.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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