At least 11 people have been killed and 19 injured in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a Yemeni hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières as the conflict escalates following the collapse of peace talks.
The strike on Monday, in which a member of MSF staff died, was the latest in an increasing number of attacks targeting places commonly used by civilians, including hospitals where MSF doctors and nurses work. It followed similar airstrikes on a food factory and a school in the course of the last week.
MSF said the bombardment of the hospital, which is in the Abs district of Hajjah governorate, in north-west 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.
Teresa Sancristóval, MSF desk manager for the Emergency Unit in Yemen, said: “This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months. Once again, today we witness the tragic consequences of the bombing of a hospital. Once again, a fully functional hospital full of patients and MSF national and international staff members, was bombed in a war that has shown no respect for medical facilities or patients. An aerial bomb hit the hospital compound, causing 11 people to lose their lives.”
Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia, backed by its Sunni Arab allies, the US and Britain, has launched airstrikes in neighbouring Yemen to reinstate the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and counter advances by 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-crisp factory last Tuesday in the first airstrikes since a much-violated ceasefire was put in place in April. The attack, in the Nahda district of Sana’a, which was launched after the collapse of UN-brokered peace talks earlier this month, killed 14 people, most of them women.
Another attack on Saturday hit a school in the Haydan district in northern Saada governorate, killing 10 students who were all under 15, according to MSF. An attack on the same day in Razih district, also in Saada governorate, hit the house of the school principal, Ali Okri, killing his wife, four children and relatives.
The coalition has acknowledged the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s call for an investigation 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.
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.
“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 said.
“On the 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.
“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 testament to how desperate the situation in Yemen 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, and particularly the Saudi-led coalition’s actions, had 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 condemning Saudi airstrikes. The UK has sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weaponry to Saudi Arabia since the Saudi campaign 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.”
Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “The UK must urgently suspend all arms contracts with Saudi.” King Salman of Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, rewarded military personnel involved in the Yemen campaign by giving them all an additional month’s salary.