Yemen: Doctors Without Borders says Saudi Airstrike on Hospital was 'Unjustified and Unprovoked'

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) - Doctors Without Borders - says the recent bombing by Saudi Arabia of a hospital in Yemen in which 19 civilians were killed was "unjustified and unprovoked." The humanitarian organisation has released the findings of an investigation into the attack on Abs hospital.

The attack on Abs on 15 August (2016) led to a decision by MSF to withdraw from four other hospitals in the region, saying they had been attacked by both the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels, engaged in a bloody conflict since early 2015.

As well as the recent bombing, the investigation also revealed findings from a clinic attacked in Taiz in 2 December 2015, saying they had a number of similarities.The Taiz attack, in which one person was killed. A total of 20 were left dead in the two attacks, while 32 reported were wounded.

The MSF report said: "While there are significant differences in the circumstances surrounding each incident, in both cases, the bombings hit fully functioning health facilities and the protected nature of the medical mission was not respected.

"The internal investigations of the Abs and Taiz incidents also conclude that the neutrality and impartiality of the facilities had not been compromised before the attacks and therefore there was no legitimate reason to attack them."

The Saudi regime said it would investigate the Abs bombing, in which a civilian car was destroyed and several people including children were burned alive. The report continued: "The details of the incidents documented in these two reports are unambiguous indicators of how war is being waged in Yemen, where there is an utter disregard for civilian life by all warring parties."

Since the start of hostilities the United Nations estimates 10,000 people have died in the Yemen, many of them civilians, including around 30 killed in Hodeida last week (20 September).

Human Rights Watch have also accused the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of violations of international law, reported the Guardian.