Doctors Without Borders Says Abs Hospital in Yemen Hit by Airstrikes

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Source: NBC News

Doctors Without Borders said airstrikes hit a hospital it was helping operate in northern Yemen on Monday, causing an unknown number of casualties.

The international aid organization — also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF — said Abs Hospital in the northern Hajjeh province was hit by strikes in the afternoon.

"Medical teams are assisting the wounded & toll is still unknown," the charity said on Twitter.

Residents and local officials told Reuters that at least seven people were killed and 13 others wounded, although NBC News was not immediately able to verify that information.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/doctors-without-borders-says-abs-hospital-yemen-hit-airstrikes-n631056

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1. The US has sold more than $20 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia since the war began in March 2015

Lopsided Peace Talks Collapse, Saudis Resume Bombing Yemen and U.S. Sells More Weapons

By Alex Emmons
Aug. 11 2016, 2:45 p.m.

THE PENTAGON ANNOUNCED an additional $1.15 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia this week, even as a three-month cease-fire collapsed and the Saudi-led coalition resumed its brutal bombing campaign of the Yemen capital Sana.

The U.S. has already sold more than $20 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia since the war began in March 2015, defying calls from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to cut off support. The Saudi-led coalition is responsible for the majority of the 7,000 deaths in the conflict, which has left more than 21 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Saudi Arabia has been accused of intentionally targeting homes, factories, schools, markets, and hospitals.

On Tuesday, the coalition targeted and destroyed a potato chip factory, killing 14 people (see top photo). The Yemeni press has since reported that coalition has conducted hundreds more airstrikes across the country, killing dozens of people.

The Saudi-led coalition started bombing Yemen several months after Houthi rebels overran the capital and forced the U.S.- and Saudi-backed dictator, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, into exile. Saudi Arabia has demanded the return of their preferred ruler, calling the rebel group a “coup militia.”...

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2016/08/11/lopsided-peace-talks-collapse-saudis-resume-yemen-bombing-and-u-s-sells-more-weapons/

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2. U.N. blacklists Saudi Arabia for killing kids in Yemen, then reverses decision (June 2016)

U.N. blacklists Saudi Arabia for killing kids in Yemen, then reverses decision

Timothy McGrath, GlobalPost 6:30 a.m. EDT June 8, 2016

It's no surprise Saudi Arabia was upset when it found its U.S.-backed military coalition in Yemen on the latest United Nations blacklist , released on June 2, of states and armed groups that committed "grave violations" against children in the course of armed conflict from January to December 2015.

The Saudis didn't have to be upset for long, though.

After public criticism by Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.N. — and, presumably, a healthy dose of closed-door diplomatic pressure — a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Monday afternoon that the Saudi coalition would be removed from the list, pending a review.

Now, the U.N. flip-flop is giving human rights groups whiplash, drawing accusations of political manipulation at the U.N. and raising new questions about whether the international community is giving Saudi Arabia and its allies a pass when it comes to the coalition's devastating intervention in Yemen's civil war...

Read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/08/united-nations-saudi-arabia-coalition-yemen/85588502/

Follow the money:

The U.N. has since deferred to other Saudi Arabian demands, as well. Earlier this year, after Saudi Arabia was put on the U.N.’s blacklist of child-killers, it threatened to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the U.N. The U.N. secretary general removed the country from the list, pending a “joint review” with the coalition, and indicated that their name will remain off the list until that happens.

https://theintercept.com/2016/08/11/lopsided-peace-talks-collapse-saudis-resume-yemen-bombing-and-u-s-sells-more-weapons/

U.N. Chief Admits He Removed Saudi Arabia From Child-Killer List Due to Extortion

By Alex Emmons & Zaid Jilani - June 9 2016, 1:36 p.m.

U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL Ban Ki-moon publicly acknowledged Thursday that he removed the Saudi-led coalition currently bombing Yemen from a blacklist of child killers — 72 hours after it was published — due to a financial threat to defund United Nations programs.

The secretary-general didn’t name the source of the threat, but news reports have indicated it came directly from the Saudi government.

The U.N.’s 2015 “Children and Armed Conflict” report originally listed the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen under “parties that kill or maim children” and “parties that engage in attacks on schools and/or hospitals.” The report, which was based on the work of U.N. researchers in Yemen, attributed 60 percent of the 785 children killed and 1,168 injured to the bombing coalition...

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2016/06/09/u-n-chief-admits-he-removed-saudi-arabia-from-child-killer-list-due-to-extortion/