An international medical relief agency said Thursday that a hospital it runs in western Yemen was damaged in a recent attack. Yemeni military officials blamed the Houthi rebels for the drone and missile attack that targeted buildings near the hospital, causing huge explosions that killed at least eight people.
In a statement, Doctors Without Borders said they closed the hospital because of the attack and that there were no reports of deaths or injuries among its patients. They were transferred to other health facilities in the Red Sea city of Mocha.
Wadah Dobish, a spokesman for Yemen's internationally recognized government, said the Houthi attack struck warehouses used by a government-allied force late Wednesday, causing a huge fire.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, says its hospital opened in August last year, offering free services to war-wounded people and surgeries.
"The patients fled after a huge explosion from the missile attacks on a weapons warehouse shook the area," Abdel-Rahman Ahmed, a general doctor at the hospital, told The Associated Press.
After five years of conflict, Yemen remains a divided country. The Iran-backed Houthis have controlled the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north since 2014. A Saudi-led, U.S.-backed military coalition has waged war against the rebels and backs the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The Saudi-led coalition began its air campaign in 2015. Airstrikes and ground combat have killed 100,000 people, including fighters and civilians, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, which tracks violence reports in Yemen. The war has also caused near-famine conditions in some areas.
Dobish, the government spokesman, said Wednesday's attack targeted government-aligned forces known as the Giants Brigade. He said at least three Houthi drones also took part in the attack, which caused huge explosions and fires that spread to residential areas.
Mocha, historically famous for coffee exports, is in the south of Hodeida province. The port in the provincial capital, also named Hodeida, is Yemen's most important entry point for international aid.
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