MSF Evacuating Staff From Yemen After Recent Saudi Attack

Hospitals in North Yemen Considered 'Unsafe' for Patients and Staff

After a Saudi Arabian airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital earlier this week killed 19 civilians, including three staff members, the aid group is announcing a full-scale evacuation of its staff from all six hospitals it operates in Northern Yemen.

MSF warned that it considers all hospitals in Saada and Hajja Provinces “unsafe for both patients and staff” because they are at risk of targeting by Saudi warplanes. MSF facilities have been repeatedly targeted since Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen last year.

MSF’s statement said they regretted having to withdraw from northern Yemen, but that they had been unable to secure any “credible assurances” from the Saudi-led coalition that they will stop attacking the hospitals, saying they have no option but withdrawal.

Saudi Arabia promised to “probe” the attack on the hospital, but despite killing thousands over the course of the war so far they have repeatedly insisted their attacks were not war crimes, and that by definition they “don’t target civilians.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.