MSF ceases activities in northwestern Yemen after Saudi airstrike hit medical center

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it has “temporarily frozen” its humanitarian activities in northwestern Yemen after an airstrike carried out by warplanes of a Saudi-led military coalition hit a cholera treatment center run by the international medical charity.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it has “temporarily frozen” its humanitarian activities in northwestern Yemen after an airstrike carried out by warplanes of a Saudi-led military coalition hit a cholera treatment center run by the international medical charity.

“This morning’s attack on an MSF cholera treatment center by the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition shows complete disrespect for medical facilities and patients,” said Joao Martins, MSF’s head of mission in Yemen, in a statement on Monday.

His comments came hours after Saudi-led fighter jets struck a newly-built clinic of MSF in the Abs district in the northwestern province of Hajjah. Martins said that the center had been empty at the time of the airstrike, hence, left no casualties.

He added that the facility’s roof clearly identified it as a medical center and that its coordinates had been previously given to the so-called Saudi-led coalition.

“MSF has temporarily frozen its activities in Abs until the safety of its staff and patients is guaranteed,” Martins further said.

Since July 2015, the international charity group has been supporting the Abs hospital, which according to the MSF, is just one kilometer away from the cholera treatment center targeted on Monday.