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At least seven dead after Saudi-led coalition bombs Yemen hospital At least seven dead after Saudi-led coalition bombs Yemen hospital
(about 1 hour later)
A Saudi-led coalition airstrike has hit a hospital in northern Hajja province in Yemen, residents and local officials said, killing at least seven people and wounding 13. At least seven people have been killed in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a Yemeni hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières amid an escalation in the conflict following the collapse of peace talks.
A Reuters witness at the scene of the attack in the Abs district said medics could not immediately evacuate the wounded because warplanes continued to fly over the area and first responders feared more bombings. The strike on Monday was the latest in an increasing number of attacks targeting places commonly used by civilians including hospitals where MSF doctors and nurses have been working. It followed similar airstrikes on a food factory and a school in the course of the last week.
The facility is run by aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which confirmed on its official Twitter account that an airstrike had occurred but said the number of deaths and injuries remained unclear. MSF said the bombardment of the hospital, which is situated in the Abs district of the country’s Hajjah governorate, in northwestern Yemen, took place at around 15.45 local time. “Abs hospital has been supported by MSF since July 2015 and since then 4,611 patients have been treated at the facility,” a statement said.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not respond to a request for comment. While the organisation said it was too early to estimate the number of casualties, residents and local officials told Reuters that at least seven people had been killed and 13 wounded.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia, backed by its Sunni Arab allies as well as the US and Britain, has launched airstrikes in the neighbouring Yemen to reinstate the ousted president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and counter advances by the Houthi rebels.
Houthi fighters, who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam, control the capital Sana’a and the western part of Yemen and are allied with the former president Abdullah Saleh, who led the country from 1990 to 2012. Hadi is currently living in exile in Riyadh.
Saudi planes bombed a potato factory last Tuesday in the first airstrikes since an often-violated ceasefire was put in place in April. That attack, in the capital’s Nahda district, which was launched after the collapse of UN-brokered peace talks earlier this month, killed 14 people, mostly women.
Another attack on Saturday, targeting a school located in the northern district of Haydan, killed 10 students who were all under 15, according to MSF. A double tap attack on the same day in the district of Razih, in the Sa’dah governorate, hit the house of school principle Ali Okri, killing his wife, four children and relatives.
The coalition has acknowledged a call for investigation by the UN chief Ban Ki-moon into Saturday’s school attack. “This investigation will be independent and will follow international standards. The JIAT [joint incidents assessment team] will make the results of its investigation public,” it read.
General Ahmed Assiri, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, has accused Houthi fighters of deploying military personnel in schools and hospitals.
Related: Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen food factory kill at least 14 peopleRelated: Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen food factory kill at least 14 people
Another air attack hit what MSF described as a school in neighbouring Saada province on Saturday, killing 10 children, but the coalition said the bombing had targeted a training facility run by Yemen’s dominant Houthi movement. Adam Baron, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who was previously based in Yemen, said both sides had substantially and dramatically increased their attacks after the collapse of the UN talks.
Dozens of airstrikes have hit civilians in Yemen since a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia began military operations in March 2015 to restore the president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to power and roll back gains by the Iran-allied Houthis. “This obviously follows the collapse of the peace talks, and it was a very tenuous ceasefire to start with. On the one hand we’ve seen a dramatic escalation from the Saudi-led coalition, which is backed by the United States and Britain, in terms of attacks on areas that the Houthis control, including where we’ve seen this apparent airstrike on the hospital today [Monday],” he told the Guardian.
“On other hand you have the Houthis and their allies increasing their attacks, whether in the internal Yemeni fronts or the Saudi border, shelling regularly over the Saudi border. There has been reported deaths of civilians from those attacks as well.”
He added: “When you’re seeing a country where your reaction to the hospital isn’t just shock and horror but rather a sad shrug, that’s really testament to how the desperate the situation in Yemen is really is right now... you’re also seeing the absolute collapse of the health system even in areas that are distant from the war.”
Kristine Beckerle, an expert on Yemen with Human Rights Watch, said the war in Yemen, particularly the Saudi-led coalition’s, has been devastating for civilians. “Over the last few days, we’ve seen Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on a factory, a school, and now, another MSF-supported hospital,” she said.
“These strikes follow a year and a half’s worth of unlawful attacks on schools, markets, hospitals, and factories. It’s unacceptable, and only underscores the need to immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia until it curbs its unlawful airstrikes in Yemen and credibly investigate those that have already occurred.”
At the weekend, the UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, raised concerns about Houthi actions but fell short of condeming Saudi airtstrikes. The UK has sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weaponry to Saudi Arabia since the Saudi camapign started last year.
“It is critical now that all parties to the conflict renew their commitment to the cessation of hostilities for the sake of the people of Yemen, including active participation by the Houthis in the de-escalation and coordination committee,” Johnson said in a statement. “The dire humanitarian and economic situation in the country means it is absolutely imperative that the talks continue, and a way towards peace is found.”